Lee Dong-jin, Mayor of Dobong District (center), is giving a presentation on the "Need for KTX Extension to the Northeastern Metropolitan Area" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 26th.
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The ‘KTX Capital Region Northeast Extension Operation Preparation Committee (Secretary-General Lee Dong-jin, Dobong-gu Mayor)’ invited Kim Hyun-mi, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, to discuss the promotion of the KTX Suseo~Uijeongbu extension project and held the ‘KTX Capital Region Northeast Extension Project Meeting’ on the 26th at the National Assembly.
At the meeting, with the participation of heads of Dobong-gu, Nowon-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, Uijeongbu City, officials from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, and 10 local lawmakers, a session was held to urge the prompt implementation of the GTX-C railway project, which confirmed the parallel operation of the GTX-C line and the KTX Uijeongbu extension line (b Suseo~Samsung~Cheongnyangni~Changdong~Uijeongbu) as a single alternative.
Lee Dong-jin, Dobong-gu Mayor and presenter at the meeting, explained six key necessities including demand aspects, technical aspects, proactive establishment of the Eurasian railway network, balanced national development, and enhancement of government credibility, while systematically rebutting the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s reasons for excluding the KTX Uijeongbu extension, such as low new demand in the northeast metropolitan area and disruption to GTX-C line operations.
According to the materials presented at the meeting, the project to extend the Suseo-origin SRT to Uijeongbu was included in the ‘3rd National Railway Network Construction Plan’ in June 2016, and the preliminary feasibility study by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in December 2018 (B/C 1.36, AHP 0.616) passed. It was also pointed out that in several previous feasibility studies, the KTX extension project had never been excluded, raising questions about government credibility.
Additionally, the introduction of a new train (EMU-250) capable of sharing platforms between KTX and GTX, along with the installation of connecting tracks between GTX-A and GTX-C lines at Samsung Station, was presented as technical evidence that there is no need for an additional construction cost of 400 billion KRW for the KTX extension project.
The ‘KTX Capital Region Northeast Extension Operation Preparation Committee,’ which hosted the meeting, was launched in December 2019 with the participation of four local government heads and seven lawmakers from the northeast metropolitan area.
In the 21st National Assembly, it is expected to push the project more strongly with the participation of 10 lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
Minister Kim Hyun-mi of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, “The construction of transportation infrastructure in the northeast metropolitan area is very important not only for balanced development between Gangnam and Gangbuk but also for the convenience of transportation for 3.2 million people in the metropolitan area,” and added, “We will comprehensively review the feasibility and basic plan of the GTX-C line.”
Lee Dong-jin, Dobong-gu Mayor, said, “We will make every effort to extend the KTX to Uijeongbu so that Changdong Seoul Arena and the ‘Changdong·Sanggye New Economic Center’ can become a transportation hub in the northeast Seoul area and a model for balanced development between Gangnam and Gangbuk. As the secretary-general of the preparation committee, I will play a leading role going forward.”
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