Nowon-gu Mayor Oh Seung-rok and Others Begin Full-Scale Promotion of KTX Northeast Metropolitan Area Extension Operation

On the 26th at 8:30 AM, a meeting with Minister Kim Hyun-mi of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building... Participation included heads of Nowon, Dobong, Dongdaemun, Uijeongbu, and 7 local National Assembly members totaling 10 people... Cost savings possible by sharing GTX platform without separate KTX platform

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon District, along with local leaders and members of the National Assembly from the northeastern metropolitan area, held a meeting with Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi to discuss the promotion of the KTX Suseo ~ Uijeongbu extension project.

The meeting, held at 8:30 a.m. on the 26th at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, was hosted by the "KTX Uijeongbu Extension Operation Preparation Committee (Chairman Woo Won-shik)." Despite the KTX northeastern metropolitan area extension project being a government initiative for national balanced development, its progress has been delayed, and the meeting urged prompt implementation.

The discussion focused on three main aspects: national balanced development, enhancement of government credibility, and economic and technical perspectives.

First, regarding national balanced development. Currently, the metropolitan area high-speed rail has hub stations only in the southern metropolitan area, such as Seoul, Yongsan, Gwangmyeong, and Suseo stations. The northeastern metropolitan area has a population of about 3.2 million, accounting for 13% of the total metropolitan population, highlighting the need to expand KTX services. The feasibility of the extension project has already been verified in the "3rd National Railroad Network Construction Plan," the "2030 Seoul City Basic Urban Plan," and the "Seoul City Urban Railroad Network Construction Plan."

Currently, residents in the northeastern metropolitan area face many inconveniences when using KTX. To take the KTX, they must go to Seoul Station or Yongsan Station, and even after the GTX-C line is completed, they will have to transfer via Samseong Station to Suseo Station, which takes about 45 minutes just for the transfer.

Next is the economic aspect. In July 2014, the Korea Rail Network Authority conducted a "KTX Uijeongbu Extension Feasibility Study," which found the project economically unviable compared to demand. However, in December 2018, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's "GTX-C Preliminary Feasibility Study Report" showed that when the GTX-C and KTX Uijeongbu extension projects are jointly promoted, the project has economic feasibility (BC: 1.36).

Moreover, the northeastern metropolitan area is expected to experience a sharp increase in future transportation demand. New towns such as Yangju in Gyeonggi Province, Minrak in Uijeongbu City, and Wangsuk District in Namyangju City, as well as the Uijeongbu Complex Cultural Convergence Complex, Changdong K-POP dedicated performance hall construction, Kwangwoon University station area development, and the planned biomedical cluster on the sites of Changdong train depot and the driver's license test center, are all expected to attract people from Seoul, across the country, and even worldwide once completed.

From a technical perspective, extension operation to Uijeongbu is possible without a separate KTX platform. The new train (EMU-250), developed in 2017 and scheduled for nationwide deployment from 2020, can share the GTX platform. This can save 450 billion KRW in KTX platform construction costs.

Additionally, the preparation committee emphasized that the economic feasibility of the KTX Uijeongbu extension in the northeastern metropolitan area is not limited to Seoul-Uijeongbu but is essential for the connection of railways from Seoul to North Korea and further continental links, and that it should be promoted promptly for policy consistency.

In response, Minister Kim Hyun-mi of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, "The construction project of transportation infrastructure in the northeastern metropolitan area is very important not only for balanced development between the Gang and Nam regions but also for the convenience of transportation for 3.2 million people in the metropolitan area." She added, "We will communicate with local members of the National Assembly and local government heads and conduct a comprehensive review."

The KTX extension project (Suseo~Samseong~Cheongnyangni~Kwangwoon University~Changdong~Uijeongbu) is included in the feasibility study and basic plan service for the metropolitan area GTX C line, which started in June 2019 and is scheduled for completion in October this year, and its feasibility is currently being re-examined.

Meanwhile, prior to the construction of the metropolitan area GTX-C line, a residents' briefing session related to the environmental impact assessment will be held. Nowon District plans to hold the briefing session on June 2 at 3 p.m. in the second-floor auditorium of Nowon District Office, as part of a tour of 14 local governments in the GTX-C line sections of Yangju and Suwon in Gyeonggi Province.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, "The KTX Uijeongbu extension project was decided as a government project under the '3rd National Railroad Network Construction Plan' in 2016 due to the lack of national transportation networks and slow regional development compared to the increasing population in the northeastern metropolitan area." He added, "It must be promoted promptly as planned from the perspective of national balanced development."