The Korean State Railway operates over 5,248 km (3,261 mi) of railway, of which 4,725 km (2,936 mi) is 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge, 156 km (97 mi) of 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in) broad gauge, and 523 km (325 mi) is 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge Of the total, about 80% is in regular use.
3,893.5 km (2,419.3 mi) of the standard gauge lines are electrified at 3 kV DC and 295.5 km (183.6 mi) of the narrow gauge at 1.5 kV DC.
Manual and semi-automatic substations are used, located 15 km (9.3 mi), 30 km (19 mi) or 60 km (37 mi) apart (50 km (31 mi)–60 km (37 mi) apart on the Kangwŏn Line).

North Korea's national transportation policy focusses on the railway as the primary means of transport for both passengers and freight.
Passenger services include both long-distance trains, as well as commuter services for students and workers; freight transport focusses on industrial raw materials and military traffic, as well as import-export traffic.
By putting heavy emphasis on rail transport of goods, by 1983 the amount of traffic transported by rail over an eleven-day period equalled that hauled in the entire year of 1946.
Traffic control is by track warrant.

In recent years, emphasis has been placed on moving away from railway to road transport for movements of 150 km (93 mi)–200 km (120 mi) or less, due to the greater cost effectiveness of road transport over short distances.

Railways carry a very large portion of traffic in North Korea:
Due to the ageing infrastructure, normal operation is made difficult by chronic power shortages and poor state of infrastructure maintenance.
Sleepers, tunnels and bridges are in a critically poor state of repair.
Tracks are laid on either wooden or concrete sleepers, using rails of 37, 40, 50, 60 kg/m (75, 81, 101, 121 lb/yd) of domestic, Chinese and Russian manufacture.
Riverine gravel and crushed stone ballast is used.
Tunnels are of concrete construction; many are in poor condition, having been built during the colonial era.
Communications equipment and the semi-automatic signalisation infrastructure dates to the 1970s, and was imported from China and the Soviet Union.
The poor state of the infrastructure severely restricts operational speeds - average train speeds are as low as 20 km/h (12 mph)–60 km/h (37 mph) (in South Korea 60 km/h (37 mph)–100 km/h (62 mph) on non-high speed lines): only on the P'yŏngbu Line are speeds of 100 km/h (62 mph) possible.
The Korean State Railway operates over 5,248 km (3,261 mi) of railway, of which 4,725 km (2,936 mi) is 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge, 156 km (97 mi) of 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in) broad gauge, and 523 km (325 mi) is 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge Of the total, about 80% is in regular use. 3,893.5 km (2,419.3 mi) of the standard gauge lines are electrified at 3 kV DC and 295.5 km (183.6 mi) of the narrow gauge at 1.5 kV DC. Manual and semi-automatic substations are used, located 15 km (9.3 mi), 30 km (19 mi) or 60 km (37 mi) apart (50 km (31 mi)–60 km (37 mi) apart on the Kangwŏn Line).
North Korea's national transportation policy focusses on the railway as the primary means of transport for both passengers and freight. Passenger services include both long-distance trains, as well as commuter services for students and workers; freight transport focusses on industrial raw materials and military traffic, as well as import-export traffic. By putting heavy emphasis on rail transport of goods, by 1983 the amount of traffic transported by rail over an eleven-day period equalled that hauled in the entire year of 1946. Traffic control is by track warrant.
In recent years, emphasis has been placed on moving away from railway to road transport for movements of 150 km (93 mi)–200 km (120 mi) or less, due to the greater cost effectiveness of road transport over short distances.
Railways carry a very large portion of traffic in North Korea:
Due to the ageing infrastructure, normal operation is made difficult by chronic power shortages and poor state of infrastructure maintenance. Sleepers, tunnels and bridges are in a critically poor state of repair. Tracks are laid on either wooden or concrete sleepers, using rails of 37, 40, 50, 60 kg/m (75, 81, 101, 121 lb/yd) of domestic, Chinese and Russian manufacture. Riverine gravel and crushed stone ballast is used. Tunnels are of concrete construction; many are in poor condition, having been built during the colonial era. Communications equipment and the semi-automatic signalisation infrastructure dates to the 1970s, and was imported from China and the Soviet Union. The poor state of the infrastructure severely restricts operational speeds - average train speeds are as low as 20 km/h (12 mph)–60 km/h (37 mph) (in South Korea 60 km/h (37 mph)–100 km/h (62 mph) on non-high speed lines): only on the P'yŏngbu Line are speeds of 100 km/h (62 mph) possible.
Korean State Railway