President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Thursday to make sweeping improvements to commuter transport in the Seoul metropolitan area by extending express rail networks and adding new bus lanes and double-decker electric buses.
Yoon made the remark during a government-public debate on people’s livelihood issues, the sixth in a series, recalling his campaign pledge to reduce the commute between Seoul and the surrounding area to the 30-minute range.
“Transport is as important as housing in the people’s lives, and housing and transport are effectively one body,” he said during the debate held at Uijeongbu City Hall, 22 kilometers north of Seoul. More than 100 people attended the session, including 50 ordinary citizens, transport and urban planning experts, and government and public institution officials.
“Misguided real estate regulation policies led to soaring house prices, effectively blocking the urban housing supply and forcing people to move to the outskirts in search of a home,” he said. “As a result, without the
proper transport infrastructure in place, the people had to suffer greatly.”
Yoon started by outlining plans to expand the Great Train Express (GTX) commuter rail networks, which will enter service this year.
The GTX-A line connecting Suseo Station in Seoul’s Gangnam Ward with Dongtan Station in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of the capital, is scheduled to open in March, while the GTX-B line linking Incheon, west of Seoul, to Namyangju, east of Seoul, will begin construction in March and enter service in 2030.
“The GTX-C line that passes through Uijeongbu will have a groundbreaking ceremony today and open by 2028,” Yoon said, adding the government plans to promptly extend all three lines. “Line A will be extended to Pyeongtaek, Line B to Chuncheon and Line C to Dongducheon to the north and Cheonan and Asan to the south.”
Lines D, E and F will be newly constructed, respectively, connecting Incheon to Wonju, Incheon to Namyangju and circling the capital area.
“When all the lines are completed from A to F,
the commute from the capital area to central Seoul will be reduced to the 30-minute range,” he said.
Yoon also pledged to expand such train services to other parts of the country, saying the government will push to establish “x-TX” high-speed trains with a maximum speed of 180 kph in four metropolitan areas — Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province; Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province; Daejeon, Sejong and the Chungcheong provinces; and Gwangju and South Jeolla Province.
He further promised to invest 11 trillion won (US$8.2 billion) to speed up projects to improve transport to and from new towns outside Seoul.
In particular, he announced plans to establish new bus lanes on expressways, put additional double-decker electric buses into service, and begin projects to move expressways underground during his term.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the GTX-C line was later held inside a gymnasium at Uijeongbu City Hall, with Yoon in attendance.
The new line will link Yangju, 29 km north of Seoul, to Suwon, 30
km south of the capital, via major stations in Seoul. All 14 stops on the 86.46-km-long line will enable transfers to regular subway lines.
After the ceremony, Yoon visited Uijeongbu Jeil Market, a traditional market in the city, to encourage shop owners amidst the cold weather and promise the government’s continued assistance for the busy Lunar New Year season next month.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
