Busan City Applies for ‘Nopo~Jeonggwan Line’ Construction Project as 3rd Preliminary Feasibility Study Target

Urban Railway 'Nopo-Jeonggwan Line' Route Map.

Busan City has taken the first step toward constructing the urban railway ‘Nopo-Jeonggwan Line’.

On the 12th, the city applied for the ‘Nopo-Jeonggwan Line (Phase 1)’ urban railway construction project as a candidate for the third preliminary feasibility study in 2022.

The Phase 1 construction project of the Nopo-Jeonggwan Line is a plan to connect a total of 13 km by tram, starting from Wolpyeong-ri in Gijang-gun, passing through Jeonggwan New Town, to Jwacheon Station on the Donghae Line. Fifteen stations will be installed, and the total project cost is 343.9 billion KRW.

In January, the city merged the existing ‘Sinjeong Line Nopo-Wolpyeong route’ and ‘Jeonggwan Line Wolpyeong-Jeonggwan-Jwacheon route’ into the ‘Nopo-Jeonggwan Line’ during the revision of the ‘Urban Railway Network Construction Plan,’ reflecting the ‘Wolpyeong~Jwacheon section’ as Phase 1 and the ‘Nopo-Wolpyeong section’ as Phase 2 in the plan.

This preliminary feasibility study application aims to prioritize the Phase 1 section first according to the investment priority of the urban railway network construction plan.

Following the application for the preliminary feasibility study, the ‘Nopo-Jeonggwan Line’ construction project will undergo review by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Investment Review Committee and the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Financial Evaluation Committee.

If the project is finally selected as a target project by the committees and passes the preliminary feasibility study, 60% of the project cost can be supported by national funds according to the Urban Railway Act.

Jeong Im-su, Director of the Busan City Transportation Bureau, said, “By establishing a dense urban railway network, we will enhance the efficiency of urban railways and improve accessibility between regions to realize a ‘Green Smart City’ where citizens’ daily lives are happy.” He added, “We will continue to focus our efforts on the early expansion of public transportation infrastructure centered on urban railways.”