Russia and North Korea will resume direct passenger rail service between their capitals, Moscow and Pyongyang, next week. The service had been suspended for over five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was reported by South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing Russia’s state railway operator RZD.
The passenger trains will operate twice a month along the route, which spans over 10,000 kilometers.
It will be the longest direct (non-stop) passenger rail route in the world: the distance between the cities is over 10,000 kilometers, and the journey will take eight days. The train will stop at the following stations: Khasan, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Kirov, and Kostroma.
Tickets will be available only at railway ticket offices, with sales opening 60 days in advance.
Trains from Pyongyang to Moscow will depart on the 3rd and 17th of each month, while trains from Moscow to Pyongyang will depart on the 12th and 26th.
Additionally, starting June 19, passenger train service will resume between Pyongyang and Khabarovsk, a Russian city near the North Korean border.
Currently, the only railway link between Russia and North Korea is the "Friendship Bridge," which has recently been used intensively for transporting weapons and other cargo from North Korea to support the Russian military.
The resumption of passenger rail service comes amid rapidly deepening cooperation between these two authoritarian regimes in various areas, including military and economic spheres. As part of this cooperation, in late April the two countries began constructing a new road bridge over the Tumen River, connecting the border towns of Khasan (Russia) and Rason (North Korea).
