Passenger train services between China and North Korea were set to resume on Thursday following a six-year hiatus, railway authorities and tour agencies said, after the link was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.

China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the isolated nuclear state.

Train journeys between the East Asian neighbours were halted in 2020 under strict border closures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

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However, China Railway said that regular train services would resume on Thursday, with the first set to depart from the Chinese capital on Thursday evening bound for Pyongyang.

The K27 train would make a few stops, including at the port city of Tianjin, and then head northeast to Dandong, a Chinese city bordering North Korea.

Wagons holding passengers bound for Pyongyang will then be attached to another train there, taking them across the border to the nearby North Korean city of Sinuiju, said Rowan Beard from Young Pioneer Tours, a company specialising in North Korea travel.

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Beard said those wagons, as well as North Korean domestic carriages, would be attached to a new train that would then head to Pyongyang, where China Railway said it would arrive on Friday evening.

China Railway also said there would be a separate daily service between Dandong and Pyongyang.

Travel agents for an official ticketing booth in Beijing told AFP on Tuesday that anyone with a valid visa was now able to buy train tickets to the North.

This would include Chinese people working and studying in North Korea, as well as North Koreans working, studying and visiting family abroad.

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Trains will run in both directions between Beijing and Pyongyang every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, China Railway said.

Entry and exit procedures would be completed at the Dandong border crossing and at Sinuiju in North Korea, it added.

Tickets are currently available for offline purchase at several Chinese cities, the statement added.