A view of the Imae Station  on the Gyeonggang Electric Rail Line which opened on Sept. 24 stretching for 57 km connecting Pankyo and Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province.(Photo: Korail)

The new electric railroad connecting Seongnam City, Gwangju, Icheon  and Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, will be completed and open officially for commercial operation on Sept. 24, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said recently. 

At a total cost of 1.949 trillion won, the work on the 57-km long Gyeonggang Line kicked off in 2002 for completion in 2010 by the Korea Rail Network Authority (KR), but it was delayed until now due to a lack of funding. Icheon  City wanted the new electric double-track rail line to be opened before Sept. 15, the Chuseok holiday, but the MOLIT could not allow it due to various problems including safety and transfers, among others. MOLIT and the Korea Rail Network Authority will operate the new electric rail line on a temporary basis during the Holiday (Sept. 13-16) for the benefit of the passengers making holiday tours to visit relatives and friends. The temporary rail lines will be in operation for six days during the Holiday, with Pankyo and Yeoju as the starting terminal and stopping at every station to deliver and pick up passengers on trips during the Chuseok holiday.

An official opening of the new railroad is taking place on Sept. 23 at Yeoju Station, the terminal of the rail line, with a number of dignitaries from the government, the National Assembly and various civilian organizations attending.

The electric rail line with 11 stations along its route took eight years and 10 months to complete, with each station designed to feature its area’s special tradition and geographical features, as well as transfers to other transportation facilities.

The transfer facilities included the probable new electric rail lines to be built linking the Icheon -Chungju-Munkyung, the Yeoju-Wonjlu, Wonju-Gangneung, the Wolkot-Pankyo, the Sueo-Gwangju, and the Pyeongtaek-Bubal lines, among other possible new rail lines. 

The transfers of passengers and cargoes among those new lines would expedite the logistics exchanges among the cities connected on the new lines, and thus bring economic enhancements to the regions. 

Currently it takes around two hours to travel between Pankyo and Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, but that will be cut to 48 minutes, a significant improvement in travel times in the southeast regions of the province.

In the meantime, more than 250 urban policy makers, government officials, development partners and non-governmental actors from more than 25 countries met in South Korea for a week of activities around National Urban Policies from Dec. 14-18 2015. Opening the National Urban Policy Week by video link, Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat stated: “Since the creation of the modern state, and the evolution of the modern state, the role of the central government is more and more important. I think this is the reason that justifies the need of a national urban policy,” he said, adding, “this fundamental goal of the national government in the influence and in the characteristics of the final urbanization quality of any country is something that we want to underline very much in the conclusions of Habitat III.”

Activities during the week included the International Conference on National Urban Policy, entitled “The Future of National Urban Policy: Towards Smarter and Greener Cities,” the piloting of UN-Habitat’s capacity development session on National Urban Policy and a two-day field tour sponsored by the Korea Land & Housing Corporation. The International Conference on National Urban Policy took place with representatives from organizations including the OECD, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UNDP, Cities Alliance and the Global Green Growth Institute together with governmental participation from Afghanistan, Iran and South Korea.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Kim Kyung-hwan, vice minister from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, reflected on the approaching Habitat III Conference and the importance of National Urban Policy. 

He commented that: “National urban policy has much to contribute to realizing the city we want ... the national government needs to provide a common vision and strategies to achieve sustainable urban development, guidance on the future course of spatial development, and priorities in urban infrastructure investments.”