The Chōsen Government Railway (朝鮮總督府鐵道, Chōsen sōtokufu tetsudō) (Korean: 조선총독부 철도, romanized: Joseon Chongdokbu Cheoldo) was a state-owned railway company in Korea during Japanese rule. It was also colloquially known by the abbreviated name Sentetsu (鮮鐵). It was the operational division of the Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Chōsen (朝鮮總督府鐵道局, Chōsen sōtokufu tetsudōkyoku, Korean: 철도국; RR: Cheoldoguk), which managed and operated railways in Chōsen, as well as supervised privately owned railway companies.
Public identity
The Chosen Government Railway's public identity changed a number of times over the 39 years that it existed. In the first four years of its existence, its name changed three times to reflect the rapid changes in Korea's political environment between 1905 and 1910. Later, for eight years Korea's railways were managed by the South Manchuria Railway - which was almost a state-level actor in the region on its own - before finally regaining its independence for the last twenty years of its life.
1906–1909: National Railway (統監府鐵道, Tōkanfu Tetsudō; 통감부 철도, Tonggambu Cheoldo)
1909–1910: Korea Railway (韓國鐵道, Kankoku Tetsudō; 한국철도, Hanguk Cheoldo)
1910–1917: Chosen Government Railway (朝鮮總督府鐵道, Chōsen Sōtokufu Tetsudō; 조선총독부 철도, Joseon Chongdokbu Cheoldo)
28 April 1905 - Military Railway's Gyeongui Line from Yongsan to Sinuiju opened;
1 July 1906 - Railway Office of the Administration of the Japanese Resident-General of Korea established; Gyeongbu Railway nationalised;
1 September 1906 - Temporary Military Railway transferred to the Railway Office and merged with the Gyeongbu Railway to create the National Railway Administration (統監府鐵道管理局, Tōkanfu Tetsudō Kanrikyoku; 통감부 철도관리국, Tonggambu Cheoldogwalliguk);
16 December 1909 - National Railway Administration renamed Korea Railway Administration (鐵道員韓國鐵道管理局, Tetsudōin Kankoku Tetsudō Kanrikyoku; 철도원 한국철도관리국, Cheoldowon Hanguk Cheoldogwalliguk);
1 October 1910 - Korea Railway Administration becomes the Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Korea, (朝鮮總督府鐵道局, Chōsen Sōtokufu Tetsudōkyoku; 조선총독부 철도국, Joseon Chongdokbu Cheoldoguk) (Sentetsu), its operating arm called "Chosen Government Railway" in English;
1 November 1911 - Bridge across the Yalu River completed, establishing a connection to the South Manchuria Railway (Mantetsu);
31 July 1917 - Management of Sentetsu and private railways in Korea transferred to the South Manchuria Railway, Railway Bureau becomes Mantetsu Keijō/Gyeongseong Administration (満鐵京城管理局, Mantetsu Keijō Kanrikyoku; 만철 경성 관리국, Mancheol Gyeongseong Gwalliguk);
1 April 1925 - Management and operation of railways in Korea returned to the Railway Bureau, Sentetsu independent again;
1 October 1934 - Management of the Sentetsu lines north of Cheongjin transferred to the South Manchuria Railway;
12 March 1943 - Railway Bureau abolished, Chosen Government Railway transferred to the Ministry of Transportation.
The Railway Bureau also operated a system of sports clubs. Today's Daejeon Korail FC is the direct descendant of Sentetsu's football club, which won the All-Korea football championship in 1939;[2] Sentetsu's ice hockey club was the first to ever play a game of that sport in Korea, playing a game against the team of the Tokyo Imperial University in 1928, and later played the first game between two Korean clubs, against a team from the Gyeongseong Imperial University.
Motive power
Steam locomotives Pashiko 13 and Pashisa 7 of the Chosen Government Railways.
Sentetsu, or more accurately its predecessor, the National Railway, was created through the merger of the Temporary Military Railway and the Gyeongbu Railway, which had previously absorbed the Gyeongin Railway, on 1 September 1906. At the time of the merger, the Korean locomotive fleet was as follows:[3]
When the National Railway became Sentetsu in 1910, the locomotive fleet had increased by only 21 engines; by the time Mantetsu took over the management of Korea's railways in 1917, the Sentetsu motive power fleet had grown from 115 in 1910 to 175. Mantetsu management lasted just under a decade, and by the time Sentetsu regained its independence in 1925 the locomotive park stood at 247 engines. The 1930s, however, saw enormous growth in Sentetsu's fleet. From 302 locomotives in 1930, by the end of the decade the number had more than doubled to 740 engines in 1940, and reached 1,000 in 1944. When Sentetsu was abolished after the end of the Pacific War there were 1,302 locomotives on the roster.[3]
Sentetsu's first classification system was a simple, number-based system, in which, loosely, the hundreds digit of the running number indicated the locomotive's wheel arrangement - numbers in the 100s were 2-6-0 or 2-8-0, those in the 200s and 300s were 4-6-0, the 400s were 4-4-0, the 500s were 4-6-4, and so on. This slightly modified in 1918, the year after Mantetsu took over management of Korea's railways, with some of the numbers being redefined, and after Mantetsu introduced a new classification system for its own locomotives in 1920, the system for Korean locomotives was once again adjusted, retaining the number series as they were in 1918, but adding new class designations - likewise reflecting wheel arrangement - akin to those used for Mantetsu's own locomotives, based on the common American name for the given wheel arrangement. Thus, from the 1920s until 1938, Sentetsu's locomotive had both a katakana-based class designation as well as a running number; however, unlike Mantetsu's engines, those of Sentetsu didn't have the class designation marked on the locomotive itself.
In 1938, Mantetsu introduced a unified classification and numbering system for its own locomotives, as well as for those of its de jure subsidiary, the North China Transportation Company, and its de facto subsidiary, the Manchukuo National Railway. At the same time Sentetsu - though it had regained its independence in 1925 - introduced its own variant of the new Mantetsu system, which included the locomotives owned by private railways in Korea.[4]
The new system consisted of a class designation and a running number counting sequentially from 1; the class designation had three katakana characters.[5] The first two, indicating wheel arrangement, remained as they were in the previous system, with the addition of one: マテ (Mate), from "Mountain", for 4-8-2 locomotives introduced in 1939. The third katakana in the class name was the class number, derived from the first syllable of the corresponding Japanese numbers from one to ten:
1 - i (イ), from イチ, "ichi"
2 - ni (ニ), from ニ, "ni"
3 - sa (サ), from サン, "san"
4 - shi (シ), from シ, "shi"
5 - ko (コ), from ゴ, "go"
6 - ro (ロ), from ロク, "roku"
7 - na (ナ), from ナナ, "nana"
8 - ha (ハ), from ハチ, "hachi"
9 - ku (ク), from ク, "ku"
10 - chi (チ), from ヂウ, "jyu"
Thus, the third class of locomotives with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement would be called パシサ - Pashisa.
Narrow-gauge steam locomotives did not use the designation forms based on wheel arrangement; instead, they all used ナキ ("Naki", from English "Narrow Gauge") plus a class number. Petrol-powered narrow gauge railcars were classified ナケハ.
Classification of electric locomotives was slightly different from that used for steam locomotives. Although this also used the two character + class number arrangement, the first character was デ ("de", from 電気, denki, "electric"), while the second character indicated the number of powered axles (using the same number abbreviations as used for the class number). In practice, Sentetsu had only two types of electric locomotive, both with six powered axles - デロイ (DeRoI) and デロニ (DeRoNi).[5]
プレ341–プレ348 built for Gyeongchun Railway in 1930, bought by Sentetsu in 1936. Nineteen others built for Mantetsu in 1935. One still in service with KSR.
Railway map of Korea from the mid 1930s. Sentetsu lines are in red; the blue lines indicate rail lines owned by private companies, along with the South Manchuria Railway and the Manchukuo National Railway.Construction of the Seokbong-Changpyeong section of the Hamgyeong Line in 1916.
The following is a list of the rail lines of the Chosen Government Railway in 1945. The name in brackets is the Japanese form of the name, which was the officially used form.
Standard gauge
Bakcheon Line (Hakusen Line): Maengjungni–Bakcheon, 1926–1945 (to KSR Pakch'on Line)
Yongsan Line (Yūsan Line): Yongsan–Seogang–Dangilli/Seogang–Gajwa, 1929–1945 (Yongsan–Seogang–Gajwa to KNR Yongsan Line, Seogang–Dangilli to KNR Dangilli Line [ko])
A number of private railways existed during the period of the Japanese occupation of Korea; these were overseen by the Railway Bureau. Most were freight (served industrial plants, ports, natural resource transport sectors, as well as military transport) and a few for passenger service in Japanese-occupied Korea.
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