Back on track: Train trips between China, North Korea resume amid warming ties

China Railway said trains connecting Beijing and Pyongyang will restart on Thursday, running four times a week. A second service linking the Chinese border city of Dandong with the North Korean capital will operate daily.

The routes had been suspended since early 2020 when North Korea sealed its borders at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, cutting off most cross-border travel.

A strategic railway corridor

The reopening revives a railway corridor long viewed as both a logistical and political bridge between Beijing and Pyongyang.

The Beijing–Pyongyang service is one of the few direct international rail connections into North Korea. Meanwhile, the Dandong route feeds into the P’yŏngŭi Line, a major North Korean trunk railway linking Pyongyang with Sinŭiju on the Chinese border.

A bridge over the Yalu River connects Sinŭiju to Dandong and integrates the line with China’s wider rail network, making it one of the most important overland routes between the two countries.

Chinese authorities have described the trains as a “moving link” strengthening the long-standing friendship between China and North Korea.

Limited access for travellers

Despite the resumption, travel remains tightly controlled.

Travel agents said tickets are currently available only to passengers holding valid visas. This includes Chinese citizens working or studying in North Korea and North Koreans travelling abroad for work, education or family visits.

Tickets for the first train departure reportedly sold out quickly, with passengers including entrepreneurs, government officials and journalists.

International travellers may be allowed on certain carriages of the Beijing–Pyongyang service, though tourism access remains limited.

North Korea’s gradual reopening

The rail resumption comes as North Korea cautiously emerges from years of pandemic isolation.

The country began allowing a limited number of foreign tourists to enter again in 2024. Authorities have also promoted new projects, including a seaside resort, as part of efforts to revive the country’s small tourism sector.

Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors accounted for the majority of foreign tourists entering North Korea.

A diplomatic signal?

The reopening also coincides with renewed diplomatic messaging between the two governments.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this week told Chinese President Xi Jinping that cooperation between their countries would grow closer as they pursue what he described as a shared socialist cause.

Kim’s message came in response to a congratulatory letter from Xi after the North Korean leader secured another term as general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party.

While North Korea has strengthened military ties with Russia, its relationship with China remains a crucial economic and political lifeline — one now visibly reinforced by trains once again crossing the border.