Pyongyang Trams

[bill937ca]

I can't imagine traveling to North Korea for railfanning, but here is a 37 minute video of Pyongyang trams.  The rolling stock is former Soviet bloc Tatra stock.  All the arcing on the overhead suggests poor grounding, but at least the trams run.  Very few private cars there. Early in the video there is a scene where the tram stops and passengers scurry to get on and the tram tries to drive away with the doors still open.

 

 

Wikipedia Pyongyang tram system.

[JR 500系]

Very interesting video! I've never seen North Korea up close, let alone their rail system. It's amazing they're using Trolley buses! Do the trolley buses use the same overhead lines as the tram? There is noticeably very very few vehicles on the roads, and even on the pavements, are is the video shot at a place of lesser crowds?

 

It's like so peaceful and quiet there.   :)

[Guest keio6000]

I will try to find some photos of north korean trams that i took on my trip there about 8 years ago.  it was a very interesting place and i'll gladly go back.   my honest belief is that even though of course the money we spend on such tourism goes to the repressive regime there, this negative effect is much more offset by the fact that the regular people who see you there and your multitude of nice clothes, digital camera, and the like become enlightened to the reality of life outside the hermit kingdom.

 

if i recall some company does SL tours there.  probably koryotours as they areby far the most prominent operator.

 

one thing that really struck me about DPRK is how beautiful the nature is in some places.  the mountains in particular are great.   south korea is very plain by comparison.

[bill937ca]

Very interesting video! I've never seen North Korea up close, let alone their rail system. It's amazing they're using Trolley buses! Do the trolley buses use the same overhead lines as the tram? There is noticeably very very few vehicles on the roads, and even on the pavements, are is the video shot at a place of lesser crowds?

 

It's like so peaceful and quiet there.   :)

 

The same person has a trolley bus video from the same trip and a Metro video.

 

 

 

With trolley poles the trams and trolley buses could use the same live wire, but I have never seen this with  pantographs. Yes, there are very few vehicles as private cars are not allowed and most fuel goes to the military.  Apparently power supply can be spotty at times too.

Edited July 15, 2014 by bill937ca

[kvp]

The crossings between trolley and tram overheads are isolated. To avoid arcing, you have to coast through the crossings and most drivers don't do that. Arcing without crossings could happen on power district boundaries, since most of these systems are fed from the local electric grid and that means a new power block every few street corners. Also a wire or a track that is not completly level could make the pantographs bounce and that causes arcing too. Usuallly grounding problems happen only on older russian trolleybuses and only when someone removed the grounding chain from the back. I only see one old trolley bus in the whole video, so seemingly they upgraded everything. I'm rather surprised that they have so many new and modern trolleybuses and that some of the old single car tatras were replaced by the newer articulated ones. The east german metro cars are still in use, so no change in that. Overall, the Pyongyang transit system looks to be in a better shape than many east european ones. There are lots of passenger cars compared to older north korean videos, many of the are modern, so the pictures were taken in the cetral government district, because only high ranking bureaucrats and foreign businessmen have them.

 

ps: The drivers are rather incompetent. At around 3:45, the driver is trying to get the pole unstuck without using the insulated rod with the hook which should be stored in the back (folded) and only ends up damaging the pole. Not to mention he could have been electrocuted.