First regular train service crosses inter-Korean border

AFP, December, 2007

DORASAN STATION, South Korea (AFP) — North and South Korea Tuesday began a regular train service across their fortified border for the first time in over 50 years, in the latest reconciliation project between the historic enemies.

A locomotive pulling 10 container trucks loaded with kerbstones and raw material for shoe factories travelled north across the frontier to Panmun station near an inter-Korean industrial complex at Kaesong.

It later returned to the South carrying shoes, garments and machinery produced in the Seoul-funded complex just north of the border.

The daily freight service is the first tangible achievement of an inter-Korean summit in October, which agreed on a variety of sweeping projects to promote peace and economic engagement.

The last regular rail operation was in 1951, during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The hope is that one day the railway will also carry passengers and act as the ...