KTXs have been operating in the Incheon area via the airport railroad for over 2 years now, but soon it may be even easier for those living in the southern part of the city as well as parts of Gyeonggi-do to take the KTX.
At the beginning of July, the Ministry and Land Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced that they were investigating the possibility of Suwon and Songdo KTX services after initial feasibility studies came back with a business case of 1.23 and 1.18 respectively according to Yonhap News. Things are looking promising for the proposal and will go into planning stages later this year with an aim to start construction in the second half of next year.
If the project goes ahead it would mean building a 2.4km connection for Songdo trains from the current high speed Gyeongbu Line to Eocheon Station , one of the future stations on the third phase of the Suin Line due to be completed in 2017. As you might know, the KTX already services Suwon, but only four times a day and because it has to use the Gyeongbu Line for part of the trip it is unable to travel as fast as other KTX services. Another 4.7km connection will also be built from Seojeong-ri Station to the new high speed line at Jije Station in Pyeongtaek.
Adding these connections will mean that travelling from Songdo to Daejeon by KTX will take 1 hour 11 minutes, with a trip to Busan possible in just 2 hours and 3 minutes. Trips from Suwon to Daejeon also would be cut from the current time of 67 minutes to 48 minutes.
Watch this space as we’ll be keeping an eye on this project.
Sources: Joongbu Ilbo | MK
