Pyongyang Metro - Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock

When operation of the metro started in the 1970s, newly built rolling stock was used. Although North Korea insists it was built in Korea, the four-car formations, known as DK4, were built in China by Changchun Car Company in 1972. Altogether 345 vehicles were built, of the whole, only 112 cars were actually used. In 1998, some of these trainsets were sold to the Beijing Subway, where they served in three car formations on line 13 (they have since been replaced by newer DKZ5 and DKZ6 trainsets; it is unknown if the DK4 units have been returned to Pyongyang).

Since 1998, the Pyongyang metro has used former German rolling stock from the Berlin U-Bahn. There are two different types of rolling stock:

• GI ("Gisela"), former East Berlin stock, built between 1978 and 1982.
• D ("Dora"), former West Berlin stock, built between 1957 and 1965.

The trainsets received a new red and cream livery in Pyŏngyang. All advertising was removed and replaced by portraits of the leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.

Recent travelers have only seen type D in operation; the GI-type has been replaced by the Dora-stock. GI-trains are used at the railway network around Pyongyang.

Foreign tourists visiting North Korea can only see the metro as part of guided tours of Pyongyang. However, a BBC reporter who was covering the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000 was able to walk around the city without being accompanied, and saw "old East German trains complete with their original German graffiti." Recent photographs taken by visitors all show the same handful of type D trains, so it is possible that only a few type D trains have been repainted and that these are the only ones shown to foreigners on guided tours. A visitor in 2004 noted 40 cars at one line, divided in ten trains.