Chairman Kang Yeong-il of Korea Railway Network Authority presides over a meeting designed to take stock of a project to connect the Passenger Terminal II of Incheon International Airport and Gangneung in time for the hosting of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.

KR Chairman Kang makes an inspection tour to a section of a project to open the Wongju-Gangneung railway route on Sept. 7. (Photos: KR)

Korea Rail Network Authority (KR) is accelerating efforts to help the railway industry create jobs and align itself with job creation initiatives, one of the government’s major state agendas. KR is focusing on reinvigorating regional economies through the opening of railroad routes and developing railroad-related sites; front-loading facility installation projects to bring for induced production; and converting non-regular employees into regular staff members. 

The corporation held management workshops in July and August to get the companywide understanding of the new government’s state tasks and detailed action plans for regional public pledges, speeding up their implementation. During the workshops, participants shared 28 tasks and 40 detained assignments to achieve five state goals as, well as 16 regional public pledges. 

Among the major plans to create jobs are a plan to convert 415 non-regular employees into regular staff on a gradual basis starting in 2018, revealing information for project orders to ensure the employment of construction crews, and a job creation project related to the development of idle railroad sites. 

Among projects related to regional public pledges are the opening of the Wonju-Gangneung Railroad in late 2017, a step-by-step groundbreaking of the Great Train Express (GTX) in the Seoul metropolitan area, the advancing of the groundbreaking of a KTX network between Gimcheon and Geojae, and the construction of wide area railway routes in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do. 

In particular, KR plans to inaugurate the Wonju-Gangneung Railway without interruption with the goal of preparing for the nation’s hosting of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games and creating jobs by reinvigorating regional economies. It now takes five hours and 47 minutes for Mugungwha train passengers to travel from Cheongnangri to Gangneung. When the Wonju-Gangneung Railway is put into public service, the travel time can be reduced to one hour and 26 minutes, making the whole of the nation accessible by high-speed train. 

Athletes and tourists can travel from Incheon International Airport to Jinbu Station near the main stadium of the upcoming Olympiad within 124 minutes without transferring. 

KR plans to implement a project to transform an abandoned railway site, crossing downtown Gangneung, into a cultural complex plaza to reinvigorate the regional economy.

Parliamentary Audit Calls for Urgent Repair of Obsolete Railway Facilities

Lawmakers called for the urgent repair and revamping of old railway facilities during the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee’s audit of KR and Korail at the KR headquarters in Daejeon on Oct. 20.

Among 4,066 bridges and tunnels across the nation, facilities, aged more than 30 years stood at 1,570, accounting for 39 percent of the total, according to Rep. Kim Hyeon-ah. Facilities aged greater than 50 years and more than 110 years numbered 984 and 46, respectively.