A new extension has been opened on the east end of Seoul’s Line 5. Also called the “Hanam Line”, it brings Line 5 into Gyeonggi Province for the first time. The Hanam Line will open in two phases, with the first phase having officially opened for service on August 8 following an official ceremony the day before.
There are a total of five stations planned for the new 4.7km route, with only two stations, Misa (미사) and Hanam Pungsan (하남풍산), having been opened initially. The remaining three stations are expected to open in December this year. One of the stations, Gangil Station, is located after Sang-il Dong Station and is still within Seoul limits.
While the line finally connects Hanam – a fast-developing city on the outskirts of Seoul – to the extensive metro network, trains will not run as frequently as the main Seoul line. Services during peak times will only operate every 10 minutes and outside of this, passengers may need to wait between 12-24 minutes for a train.
A trip to Gangnam Station via two transfers takes around 47 minutes – not super fast, but bound to take pressure off the BRT system already in place. Commuters traveling to places like Wangsimni and Jongno where Line 5 passes through may find the new connection more useful than those in south, as they’ll have the chance to get a seat all the way to their destination – a luxury at peak times on Seoul’s metro.
Built by Gyeonggi Province, it is the first regional rail project that has been led and built by a provincial authority. Extensions of Seoul Metro lines into other regions are generally led by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The first phase was originally scheduled to open in June but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting driver training.
A time table for the new extension can be found on Seoul Metro’s website in Excel format.
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This confused me, as I was under the impression that portions of nominally Seoul Metro lines which lie outside the city were entirely operated by Korail (or otherwise in conjunction with a private company)—for example, the Ilsan Line extension of Line 3. However, now I see some sources saying Korail in some cases takes care of the stations while Seoul Metro operates the trains (although I think Korail is still the operator on the further reaches of lines one and four?). Is this the case, or does the Hanam Line represent a unique situation here?
Hi Phillip! That's going to depend on the line. So yes Korail trains also run on lines 3 and 4. But Line 7 and 8 are different again. If you want to find more information about this it's useful to check the individual lines on https://namu.wiki. As for the Hanam Line, the unique thing was that a Provincial Government (i.e. a "do") built the line rather than the central government and also owns the stations. Hope that helps!
Thanks Andy! It's great to know about the Hanam Line extension. There are a few places around Misa I've been wanting to check out. Now I can. Thanks again!
Thanks for the comment James!