Opened in 2014 but suspended in 2018 due to low ridership
Incheon City says "Need has increased due to population growth"
Incheon City is promoting a plan to resume the KTX line that was suspended 6 years ago. This KTX line departs from Incheon International Airport and passes through Geomam Station.
On the 9th, Incheon City announced, "We plan to discuss the resumption of the Incheon Airport KTX (Incheon Airport∼Geomam Station∼Seoul Station) operation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) within the first half of this year."
The Incheon Airport KTX operated 22 round trips daily on the Gyeongbu, Gyeongjeon, and Donghae lines starting from June 2014. This line received positive feedback because passengers traveling between local areas and Incheon Airport could reach their destination on the same train without transferring at Seoul Station. However, the section between Seoul Station and Incheon Airport used the Airport Railroad line, which took nearly an hour, causing inconvenience.
In 2017, the average daily ridership of the Incheon Airport KTX line was only 3,470 passengers, combining 2,586 at Incheon Airport and 884 at Geomam Station, and ultimately, operations were suspended in March 2018. As a result, Incheon became the only city among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide, except Jeju, without KTX service.
Incheon City explained, "Due to changes in conditions in the northern part of Incheon, including population growth in Geomdan New Town, the need to resume the Incheon Airport KTX is increasing."
There has been a steady influx of population into Geomdan New Town around Geomam Station, where the Airport Railroad and Incheon Subway Line 2 intersect, and considering the ongoing Geomam Station area public housing district development project, it is judged that resuming the Incheon Airport KTX operation is necessary.
However, if passenger demand for the Incheon Airport KTX remains low as in the past, the railway's operational losses could be significant, which is expected to be a variable. Additionally, as the operation of the Incheon Airport KTX would inversely reduce the number of Airport Railroad train services, it could cause inconvenience to existing Airport Railroad passengers.
An official from Incheon City said, "We will do our best to ensure that residents in northern Incheon can conveniently use the KTX through consultations with related organizations."
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