On the 25th, the escalator installation project at Gildong Station passed Seoul City investment review... Feasibility study also supports installation... District office making all-out efforts to realize installation
Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Soo-hee) announced that the ‘Escalator Installation Project at Exit 2 of Gil-dong Station on Subway Line 5’ passed the Seoul City investment review on the 25th.
Accordingly, the long-awaited escalator installation at Gil-dong Station, a project desired by Gil-dong residents, is expected to gain more momentum.
Gil-dong Station on Subway Line 5 is used by an average of 15,000 citizens daily, but there has been no escalator connecting the underground first-floor concourse to the ground-level exit, causing continuous complaints about inconvenience from residents.
In particular, Exits 2 and 3 require users to climb stairs to reach the ground level, creating serious accessibility issues for transportation-vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, pregnant women, and the elderly. To address this, the district has continuously advocated for escalator installation to Seoul City and Seoul Metro.
Last year, the district requested Seoul City to allocate 100 million KRW for a feasibility study on the escalator installation at Gil-dong Station. In November, Mayor Lee Soo-hee personally visited Gil-dong Station and urged Seoul Metro to actively explore all possible methods for installing the escalator.
Following this, Seoul Metro conducted a feasibility study in February this year and confirmed that escalator installation at Exit 2 of Gil-dong Station is possible if private land compensation is feasible. Based on this, Seoul Metro is currently carrying out the basic and detailed design services for the escalator installation at Gil-dong Station.
In July, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited Gil-dong Station, listened to residents’ opinions together with Mayor Lee, and inspected the site. During the inspection, Mayor Lee emphasized the necessity of installing the escalator at Gil-dong Station and requested active support from Seoul City.
Thanks to these efforts by the district, the ‘Escalator Installation at Exit 2 of Gil-dong Station on Line 5,’ proposed by Seoul Metro and submitted by the Seoul City Urban Railway Division, passed the Seoul City investment review on October 25, opening the possibility of actual budget allocation.
Going forward, the district plans to actively cooperate with Seoul City in pre-construction procedures such as urban planning facility changes and private land compensation to expedite the project.
Mayor Lee Soo-hee of Gangdong-gu said, “We have overcome an important milestone for the escalator installation at Gil-dong Station,” and added, “We will do our best to promptly improve residents’ inconvenience by actively cooperating with related organizations such as Seoul City and Seoul Metro.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
