Gwangju Urban Railway Line 2 Opening Likely to Be Delayed

Unable to Select Contractor for Phase 2, 7·10 Gonggu Construction
Design Changes and Budget Increase Needed for Realization

Gwangju Urban Railway Line 2 Route Map.
[Photo provided by Gwangju City]

The opening of Gwangju Urban Railway Line 2 is expected to be somewhat delayed from the original schedule. This is due to the failure to select construction companies for some sections of Phase 2.

According to the Gwangju Urban Railway Construction Headquarters on the 5th, the private contract process for Sections 7 and 10 of Phase 2 of Line 2 has been temporarily suspended. Although the plan was to select companies through a public bid, it failed five times, and even the private contract attempts since August did not succeed due to the lack of companies.

The Urban Railway Construction Headquarters judged that it would be difficult to contract with construction companies without an increase in the project budget, and thus temporarily halted all selection procedures. The city plans to renegotiate with the government regarding the project budget increase along with design changes for the two sections.

Discussions with the government on the project budget increase and design revisions are expected to take at least 10 months to over a year, which is likely to delay the originally scheduled opening of Line 2 in 2029.

Gwangju City intends to shorten the opening period as much as possible by supplementing construction methods. A city official said, “If the project budget is made realistic, companies willing to participate will emerge,” adding, “We aim to open by 2030 and plan to minimize the construction period.”

Phase 2 of Gwangju Urban Railway Line 2 covers a 20.046 km section from Gwangju Station through Chonnam National University, Ilgok, Cheomdan, Suwan, and Unnam districts to City Hall, with a project cost of 1.3228 trillion KRW (793.7 billion KRW from the national government and 529.1 billion KRW from the city). Among these, Section 7 spans 2.493 km from the back gate of Chonnam National University to the Ochi-dong overpass, and Section 10 covers 1.808 km from the OB Beer Factory in Bonchon-dong to the Yangsan District intersection. These are ‘difficult construction’ sections due to narrow roads and many obstacles. Construction on the other six sections, excluding Sections 7 and 10, began in December last year.

A representative from the Gwangju Urban Railway Construction Headquarters stated, “The project budget for Phase 2 of Line 2 is set too low compared to the construction difficulty, and since many complaints are expected in these sections, companies are hesitant to participate,” adding, “We plan to adjust the basic construction costs upward through design changes and renegotiations with the government.”

Meanwhile, Phase 1 of Urban Railway Line 2 (City Hall?World Cup Stadium?Baegun Square?Chosun University?Gwangju Station) began construction in 2019 and is scheduled for completion in 2026.