South Korea's first bullet train goes into service this week promising to transform people's lives by easing chronic traffic congestion.
After 14 trillion won (US$12 billion) of investment and years of delay caused by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and major engineering obstacles, the 300kmh train will open for business on Thursday on two lines linking Seoul to Busan in the southeast and Mokpo in the southwest.
PHOTO: AFP
The construction of the new rail system, dubbed Korea Train Express (KTX), is considered a seminal national event here, on a par with the completion of South Korea's first highway from Seoul to Busan, 428km south, in 1970.
Many more highways have been added since then, but road-building was overtaken by the number of vehicles in the intervening years, leaving South Korea's transport costs among the highest in the world.
Kim Se-Ho, head of the state-run Korean National Railroad (KNR), said KTX would bring about "revolutionary changes to logistics and people's lives."
"By mixing KTX with other means of transportation, you can reach anywhere in the country within a half day," he said of the French technology-based bullet train.
Lifestyles will improve as people abandon congested cities for the countryside in search of cheaper rent and clean air and residents in provincial cities will be able to shop and see art performances in Seoul, he said.
Commuters will take 49 minutes travelling by train between Seoul and Daejeon, some 160km south, while motorists sit behind the wheel for more than an hour to reach downtown from the outskirts of the capital.
KTX covers the whole 410km run from Seoul to Busan in 160 minutes although it has to slow down on old tracks used by conventional trains.
The fastest conventional train covers the same distance in 240 minutes.
When the old tracks yield to new railbeds in 2010, the travel time will be cut to 116 minutes.
In its first year of service, KTX is expected to carry 180,000 passengers per day, enabling the Korean National Railway to cut back on slower services to free up those trains for cargoes.
Experts said the costs of road traffic congestion in South Korea have been increasing 13.5 percent on average over the past 10 years to hit 22 trillion won in 2002.
It amounts to 3.7 percent of the country's total GDP.
"KTX is equal to four Seoul to Busan highways in terms of logistics capacity," Kim said, adding that KTX will save the country 1.85 trillion won in logistics cost next year alone.
Aside from logistical gains, the new railway system brought a leap forward to South Korea's railway technology.
KTX will operate 46 sets of trains, 12 imported directly from Alstom of France and 34 others were assembled here.
With technology transfer from Alstom, KNR has successfully developed its own model, the G7.
"We plan to increase G7's speed to 350 kilometers per hour," Kim said, adding that South Korea seeks to export this model.
KTX recently took a group of diplomats and journalists on a test driving to Daejeon. The sleek silver-grey and blue train hit 307km at one point but passengers reported slightly more rolling and noise than the France's TGV high-speed train.
Acting President Goh Kun expressed hope on Wednesday that KTX would help South Korea emerge as a railway hub on the "Iron Silk Road" linking Northeast Asia and the Pacific to Europe.
"My dream is to travel to Pyongyang and all the way across Siberia to Europe by this high-speed train," Kim said.
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