Korea Railroad Corp.(Korail) said it would hold a “Memorable Cos-Play Festival” in Bosung, South Jeolla Province, from May 2 to May 31 with the “Memorable Town” set up at Deukryang Rail Station according to a 1970s theme.
Cos-play is a portmanteau made up with the words “costume” and “play.”
Performances will be staged by the characters form games, movies and cartoons with costumes from the ‘70s.
The festival’s contents include those to evoke memories from “our fathers’ generation” with diverse materials. To be installed near the Deukryang Rail Station are 10 things to recall the old days, such as iron rings, rubber ropes and driving stakes in a space some 200 pyeong large, while the square in front of the rail station will be turned into a roller skating rink to make the festival more colorful and fun.
On the streets nearby the rail station will be small shops such as coffee shops and barber shops to make the streets full of memories of days gone by. They will take back visitors to the ‘70s era. Also to take place are performances with the characters in school uniforms, uniforms for training and boots-cut blue jeans, all of which people wore in the ‘70s and ‘80s, as part of the Cos-Play Festival.
The festival is open to anyone, and they can rent school uniforms and uniforms for training at the stores nearby the rail station. Also not to be missed is a performance of actors dressed as famous cartoon characters to make the festival more exciting. The train’s third car will be full of memorable facilities including alleys, shops, a cartoon room and coffee shops to generate fond memories.
Festivities will run for two months — from May to June.
Various commodities will also be on sale at Memory Village near Deukryang Rail Station. Visitors to the festival can travel around famous tourist spots on the Namdo on S-Train and KTX. Popular destinations include green tea fields and Suncheon Bay. Those who want to buy mementos can do so through the Korail homepage and tourist centers around the country. (Phone 1544-7755 for more information).
On April 12, a pre-event took place to introduce the upcoming colorful event at Deukryang Rail Station with Korail taking charge. Some 1,000 visitors from such cities as Seoul and Busan came to the rail station on special trains, with some 300 among them participating in the event in school uniforms and training uniforms to make it more memorable and colorful.
Also taking place at the rail station included a festival for the resurrection of traditional dances with tourists in uniforms performing Train Play and a Flash Mob, marching around the rail station that changed into thee aforementioned Memory Village.
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Performers dressed in uniforms pose for the camera at the Deukryang Memory Village near Bosung, Jeolla Province.
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The visitors including small children walk around the street full of shops including coffee shops at the Deukryang Memory Village near Bosung, South Jeolla Province, where "Memorable Cos-Play Festival" will take place May 2-31.
Korail President Choi Yeon-hye said Deukryang Memory Village has been prepared with the successful know-how and confidence gained from the successful staging of the Santa Village at Bucheon Rail Station.
“We will develop the Deukryang Rail Station with representative thematic rail station with colorful and diverse things to look at and enjoy with the culture that all the generations can feel the same,” he said.
In the meantime, Korail’s operation of special tourism trains to five tourist destinations — mostly to economically depressed areas — have been a great success so far. The O Train Line (Central Inland Tourism Belt) and the V Baektu Great Mountain Range Train Line have transported 1.04 million passengers in the past two years of operation, Korail said. The O-train starts from Seoul travels to Youngju, North Gyeongsang Province, via Jecheon and Taebaek, while the V-train starts from Youngju and travels to Cheolam via Buncheon.
The S-train, the Southern Ocean Train, in the meantime, starts from Busan and travels to Boseong and also starts from Seoul to Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. The DMZ train starts from Seoul to Mt. Dora on the Gyeongui Line while another S-train runs to the White Horse Height on the Gyeongwon Line. The A-train, the Jeongson Airrang Line, starts from Cheongyang-ri, Seoul and travels to Auraji with West Sea Golden Train starts from Yongsan, Seoul, and travels to Iksan, South Chungcheong Province.
The O.V. trains had a greater number of passengers (672,000) since April 12, 2013 while the S-train carried 255,000 passengers since Sept. 27, 2013. The DMZ train carried 111,000 passengers since its service launched on Jan. 22 this year, and the West Sea Golden Train transported 21,000 passengers, although it only launched on Feb. 5 of this year.
The train service attracted a large number of passengers in such a short time due to the traditional Korean-type lodging facilities with ondol (rooms with heated floors).
The results of the five tourism areas linking railroad services has helped to boost Korail’s earnings to generate profit for the first time in nine years, amounting to 103.4 billion won. As a result, Korail for the first time was listed among the 100 best brands in Korea, coming in at 75th.
The economies of the five tourism areas also benefitted from the special rail services in terms of productivity, rising to 102.8 billion won and employment rising by 1,299, doing what they can to help the Creative Economy Drive by the government to create jobs and boost economic growth.
The areas in between the major tourism destinations also benefitted from the increased number of passengers on the special tourist train lines.
The Bucheon Rail Station didn’t have a lot of passengers using the station on a daily basis, but now the number increased to 1,046, with the special tourist trains running daily services. The number rose to 4,648 people daily and 106,000 in total during the 58 days since the station started running Santa Village.
The villages along the DMZ train also benefitted from the special service, especially Yeoncheon Rail Station and Yeoncheon Rail Station, where the Jeongson Arirang Train passes every day. The residents from nearby villages set up temporary open markets near those rail stations and the passengers bought fresh farm produce from those markets while the trains made stops.
Korail, in the meantime, has further diversified travel goods and services. The railroad authority made videos on tourism information in the seven areas where those tourist trains pass, and began to show them through the smartphones. The O-train, too, has installed special video machines in passenger compartments, while the S-train is ready to run cartoons, and music and the stations that the train stops will have special shops and alleys to sell various farm produce and mementos for two months timed with the opening of the Memorable Cos-Play Festival on May 2.
Korail will increase the number of special trains during the festival period from May 2 to May 31.
Deukryang Rail Station will open Memory Village with the ‘70s themes from May 2. For more details, call 1544-7788 or visit the homepage of Korail, www.letskorail.com.
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