Mayor Lee Yong-seop Proposes Key Railway Issues to Korail

"Request for Early Construction of Songjeong Station Parking Building to Alleviate Parking Difficulties for Users"

President Son Byung-seok: "We Will Expedite Parking Lot Construction for the Convenience of Users"

On the afternoon of the 17th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, visited the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) headquarters in Daejeon to discuss key pending projects, including the early construction of the Songjeong Station parking building, with Son Byung-seok, President of KORAIL, and requested KORAIL's support and cooperation. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City proposed major issues to Korail, including ▲early construction of the parking building at Gwangju Songjeong Station ▲continuous operation of the shuttle train between Gwangju Station and Gwangju Songjeong Station ▲utilization of the shuttle train for building 5G-based immersive content ▲participation in the Gwangju Station complex development project.

On the afternoon of the 17th, Mayor Lee Yong-seop visited Korail headquarters and met with President Son Byung-seok, emphasizing that these projects are urgent issues for providing convenience to railway users in Gwangju, alleviating traffic congestion, and revitalizing the local economy through urban regeneration of Gwangju Station. He requested Korail’s active support and cooperation.

The Gwangju Songjeong Station parking building construction project is designed with 1,600 parking spaces over six floors, with Korail investing 37 billion KRW to resolve surrounding congestion and parking inconvenience caused by the surge in users after the opening of Honam KTX and Suseo SRT. Early groundbreaking and completion were requested to alleviate citizen inconvenience.

Additionally, to improve accessibility to Gwangju Songjeong Station for residents of Dong and Buk districts and to ease traffic congestion at Gwangju Songjeong Station, continuous operation of the shuttle train between Gwangju Station and Gwangju Songjeong Station was requested, along with adjustment of shuttle train operation times to reduce transfer waiting times between the shuttle and high-speed trains.

The Gwangju Station shuttle train has been operating on the Gwangju Station?Geukrakgang Station?Gwangju Songjeong Station route since 2016. The city has increased the budget for continuous operation from 1.1 billion KRW to 1.5 billion KRW this year and is bearing the operating costs.

Furthermore, Mayor Lee proposed the 5G-based smart tourism road project to build a VR·AR immersive content platform on the shuttle train operating between Gwangju Station and Gwangju Songjeong Station and to develop tourism experience content to diversify Gwangju’s tourism products, requesting cooperation to utilize it on the shuttle train.

This project is expected to increase train users by diversifying Gwangju’s tourism products through the integration of advanced technology and content industry into the shuttle train, aligning with the government’s immersive content promotion policy.

In addition, for urban regeneration around Gwangju Station, where urban hollowing due to reduced transportation functions is severe, a prompt push was requested for the Gwangju Station complex development project, which is being promoted in connection with the ‘Gwangju Station Economic Base-type Urban Regeneration New Deal Project.’

The Gwangju Station complex development project is an urban development project that maintains the railway function of Gwangju Station and utilizes available land generated by rearranging railway facilities within the station yard, with public investment and private capital. Currently, Gwangju City and Korail are jointly conducting a basic conceptual study, and the development plan and guidelines are scheduled to be finalized in the first half of this year.

In response, Son Byung-seok, President of Korea Railroad Corporation, stated, “We will strive to proceed with the design and construction of the Gwangju Songjeong Station parking building as quickly as possible to resolve user inconvenience. Regarding the shuttle train between Gwangju Station and Gwangju Songjeong Station, we have agreed with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to extend its service life until 2022 and will actively review extension plans thereafter.”

Regarding the use of the 5G-based smart tourism road shuttle train, President Son said, “It is a good idea for Gwangju tourism,” adding, “We will try to centralize train operation support facilities at Gwangju Songjeong Station as much as possible and make every effort to ensure that the Gwangju Station complex development project brings great benefits to Gwangju citizens.”