ROK train goes to DPRK for joint railway inspection

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A train carrying the Republic of Korea's (ROK) engineers and officials crossed into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday to begin a landmark joint survey to reconnect railway tracks between the two countries.

The train, which has six cars and is carrying a number of ROK officials and experts, left Dorasan Station, just south of the inter-Korean border, at about 9:05 a.m. for Panmun Station, near DPRK's border city of Kaesong.

Linking up the railway systems was one of the agreements reached earlier this year in a key meeting between the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and the ROK President Moon Jae-in.

The train will cover the 400 km western Gyeongui Line railway around six days to the city of Sinuiju near DPRK's border with China.

It is the first time since 2007 a train from the ROK has entered the DPRK.

A ROK train transporting dozens of ROK officials and experts travels on a railway line which leads to the DPRK, inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, November 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

TV footage on Friday showed a red, white and blue train – displaying a banner reading "Iron Horse is now running toward the era of peace and prosperity" – pull away from ROK's Dorasan station, the nearest terminal from the western part of the inter-Korean border.

There is a passenger coach, a sleeping coach, an office coach and a wagon loaded with water for showers and laundry.

When it arrives at Panmun Station – the first DPRK terminal across the border – the six carriages will be linked up to a DPRK train, and the ROK locomotive will return home.

(With inputs from agencies)