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ISTANBUL

Passenger rail service between Pyongyang and Moscow resumed on Tuesday after a five-year suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian authorities confirmed Wednesday.

The Russian Ministry of Transport announced that international carriages will now operate twice a month, with travel time slightly exceeding eight days across more than 10,000 kilometers (6200 miles)—the world’s longest passenger rail route.

“This is the first time in five years! Together with Russian Railways and colleagues from the DPRK, we have resumed direct rail service between our capitals,” the ministry said.

The train, made up of North Korean compartment carriages, will make stops in major Russian cities including Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Kirov, and Kostroma.

Tickets from Pyongyang are being sold in the DPRK, while those from Moscow and other Russian cities are available at international ticket offices of the Federal Passenger Company, a subsidiary of Russian Railways.

In addition to the Moscow route, a monthly Pyongyang–Khabarovsk train will start operating on June 19.

Passenger traffic between the two countries had been suspended in February 2020 following pandemic-related border closures.

In December 2024, limited rail connections were restored between Tumen (DPRK) and Khasan (Russia), setting the stage for the full resumption of the Pyongyang-Moscow line.