Moscow-Pyongyang Direct Train Service to Resume on June 17

Five Years After the 2020 Pandemic...
"The World's Longest Direct Railway Line"

The Russian Railways announced on June 9 (local time) that the direct train service between Moscow, Russia and Pyongyang, North Korea, which had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will resume operations starting from June 17.

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On Telegram, Russian Railways stated, "With an agreement reached with the North Korean railway authorities, we will resume international direct train operations connecting Pyongyang and Moscow from June 17."

The Moscow-Pyongyang train will operate twice a month. It departs from Pyongyang on the 3rd and 17th of every month and arrives in Moscow on the 11th and 25th, respectively. The train from Moscow to Pyongyang departs on the 12th and 26th of each month and arrives in Pyongyang on the 20th and 4th of the following month. Russian Railways explained, "This is the longest direct railway line in the world," adding, "The distance between the two cities is over 10,000 kilometers, and the journey takes eight days."

This train stops in Russian cities such as Khasan, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Kirov, and Kostroma. The Moscow-Pyongyang direct line will operate by connecting North Korean passenger cars to a train running between Moscow and Vladivostok, and then reconnecting them to another train along the route.

Starting from June 19, a direct train between Pyongyang and Khabarovsk in Russia's Far East will also begin operating once a month. It will depart from Pyongyang on the 19th of each month and arrive in Khabarovsk on the 21st, two days later. From Khabarovsk, the train will depart on the 21st of each month and arrive in Pyongyang on the 23rd.

Russian Railways explained that ticket sales will begin in the near future. Passengers will be able to purchase train tickets up to 60 days before the departure date.

Railway operations between North Korea and Russia were suspended in February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and were only partially resumed for freight transport. However, after both sides signed the "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty" in June last year, passenger trains between North Korea and Russia began operating on a trial basis. Since December last year, regular train services between the Tumen River and the Khasan region of Vladivostok have also resumed.