Relax - S.Korea to open railway line from Seoul to Incheon airport

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South Korea plans to officially open a direct railway linking downtown Seoul with the country's main airport later Tuesday, a move that will greatly improve the convenience of travellers, the government said.

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said full-fledged commercial operations of the second phase of the railway system will start Wednesday and are expected to fuel greater use of trains by travellers.

The 20.4-kilometre section of railway, which cost 2.48 trillion won (S$2.8 billion), connects Seoul Train Station in the central part of the capital city with Gimpo Airport, and will effectively reduce travel time and costs for travellers going to Incheon International Airport (IIA), the country's largest airport.

The second phase follows the completion of the first leg of construction that connected Gimpo with IIA. That 37.6-kilometre-long railway was opened to the public in March 2007.

Construction on the entire airport railway line started in January 2004 at cost a total of 4.22 trillion won.

The ministry said a passenger can reach IIA on Yeongjong Island from Seoul Train Station in 53 minutes at a cost of 3,700 won, compared to travelling over an hour on a limousine bus that costs 15,000. It said that same distance can be covered by a taxi in just under an hour, if there is no traffic, but at a cost of 67,500 won.

Authorities, meanwhile, said the opening of the train service can greatly push up the number of travellers and can help the country cut back on energy use by getting people to ride on public transportation.

Besides the opening of the railway service, Seoul is moving to connect the Korea Train Express (KTX) bullet train with the Seoul station-IIA line by the end of 2012. Such a connection would allow a person to travel from Busan on the southeastern corner of the country to Incheon airport in two hours and 40 minutes, down sharply from six hours at present.

Because the KTX trains can travel at 180 kilometres per hours, they will be able to ferry passengers from downtown Seoul to IIA in 28 minutes.

S.Korea to open railway line from Seoul to Incheon airport

The Korea Herald, ANN | Tue, Dec 28 2010

Authorities say the service can greatly push up number of travellers and help the country cut back on energy use.

Keywords

The second phase follows the completion of the first leg of construction that connected Gimpo with IIA. That 37.6-kilometre-long railway was opened to the public in March 2007.

Construction on the entire airport railway line started in January 2004 at cost a total of 4.22 trillion won.

Because the KTX trains can travel at 180 kilometres per hours, they will be able to ferry passengers from downtown Seoul to IIA in 28 minutes.