By ashleykaren
The construction of a second double-track high-speed line between Osong and Pyeongtaek has begun.
On June 7, a groundbreaking ceremony was held by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Cheongju, east of Osong, followed by President Yoon Seok-yeol’s presence.
The 46·9 km line will virtually supply a second pair of tracks between two essential junctions on the South Korean high-speed network. This is one of the busiest parts of the national network where KTX trains operated by national operator Korail to and from Seoul share tracks with Supreme Railways’ open access trains, which serve Suseo in the Seoul conurbation.
To be constructed near the current line, the new alignment would feature a 34 km tunnel and 6·3 km of bridges. It is to have a design speed of 400 km/h; the current line is worked at up to 300 km/h.
As the ministry claimed, compared to the current 190, the capacity of the Pyeongtaek – Osong section will boost to 380 trains per day per direction. Routes have been assigned for up to 262 daily trains over two routes when the new line project is completed.
Supreme Railways is said to launch two return services a day from Suseo to Jinju, Yeosu, and Pohang from September this year, while Korail claims that it plans to launch new services connecting Suwon and Incheon near the capital to Busan, Mokpo, and Yeosu-Expo when the second alignment is ready.
Hyundai Rotem has received a contract for supplying 17 eight-car EMU-320 high-speed trainsets for Korail, as well as 14 similar sets to Supreme Railways in April and March for supplementary services.
The line is expected to commence in 2028.
