UNKRA Sparks Increased Coal Production in Korea

As a part of its effort to help increase coal production in Korea, the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) has engaged the services of British mining consultants and technicians to work with Korean mine managers, engineers and technicians in the rehabilitation and modernization of the coal mines. The Macha-ri coal field, located some 150 miles southeast of Seoul in the mountainous region of Kangwon-do, is one of the principal coal mining sites being worked at present. There, a narrow-gauge railway brings coal from three high-level mines, Bamchi Nos. 1 and 2 and Solchi - down to the entrance of the main mine, Pangyo, in the Galley below. From there, coal from all four mines is carried by aerial ropeway 7-1/2 miles overland to the Yongwol power station.
The grade of the little electric railway's tracks at places reaches almost 30 percent, as it does here for example. [1955]