South Korea has sent equipment and materials across the border to the North to prepare for Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony for an inter-Korean railway project.

A government official in Seoul said that vehicles carrying equipment and materials along with about 30 South Koreans departed for North Korea at around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday via the western border.

The equipment and materials will reportedly be used to install a stage for the groundbreaking ceremony.   

The Seoul government completed consultations with the United Nations Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee on Monday and secured the committee's sanctions exemptions for the event. 

The two Koreas are set to hold the event to break ground for their railway and road reconnection initiative at Panmun Station in the North's border town Gaeseong on Wednesday.