The government wants to help the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to be a great success by connecting the Olympic venue with a KTX Line to cut travel time.

 The construction on the high-speed rail with 12 sections got its start in June and is scheduled to be completed in 2017, which will improve the transportation between the Seoul area and Gangnung in the East Coast tremendously reducing the logistics costs as it would take only an hour and 18 minutes to travel to Gangnung on the new high-speed rail. NewsWorld met with Director Seok Ho-young, who is in charge of the project, while visiting the worksite of the new high-speed rail.

F0llowing are excerpts from an interview with Director Seok Ho-young in charge of Construction at the Korea Rail Network Authority Gangwon Branch.

Question: What is the progress so far made in the construction of the high-speed rail line linking Wonju and Gangneung, Gangwon Province?

Answer: The KTX line between the two cities went through a feasibility study in 1996 and the basic plan for the rail project was drawn up in 2007 and firmed up in 2010 following a re-examination of the feasibility study. The project got a big boost when Pyeongchang successfully clinched the rights to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in 2011, with the project kicked off officially on June 1, 2012, and the completion set for 2017.

The KTX Line has been designed for a maximum speed of 250 km/h at a total cost of 3.941 trillion won with 180 billion won allocated for this year and 465 billion won next year to build the high-speed rail stretching 120.3 km in total length. The line will have six stations along the way including Manjong, Hoengsong, Pyeongchang, and Jimbu as the terminal for Winter Olympic venues and resorts such as Alpensia.

Q: Can you please tell us about the construction sections between Wonju and Gangneung and the plan for the construction process?

A:  Sections Nos. 1-10 are being built by the construction companies contracted to work on each of the sections. Builders for sections No. 1 to No. 5 and No. 11 will be selected at the end of the year.

The auditing team for the No. 6 Section is made up of three firms including KTC with three builders including Korea Development chosen to take charge of construction. The section stretches for 8.8 km in total length and structures include nine bridges, four tunnels, and Pyeongchang Station. Section No. 7 is being audited by the Korea Railroad Corp. Team by itself with four construction firms including GS Construction in charge of building. The section stretches for 9.42 km with structures such as the Pyeongchang Tunnel. 

The No. 8 Section will be built by four construction firms including Hyundai Construction, with a total length of 7.48 km with structures including six bridges, seven tunnels, and the Jinbu Station. Section Nos. 9 and 10 share the longest tunnel, the 21.7 km-long Daekwanryong Tunnel with Section No. 9 Section sharing 12.45 km of the length of the tunnel and Section No. 10 building 9.305 km length of the tunnel.

The construction schedule of the project is to work on the foundation of the railroad first from 2012 through 2016; work on laying rails will start from 2014 and finish in 2016; work on buildings starting in 2015 and finishing in 2017; and the work on rail car terminals will begin in 2014 and finish in 2017. 

The work on all the systems along the railroad including power transformer stations, communication, electricity, and others is set to begin in 2015 with completion slated for 2017.

Test runs will start in August 2017 and wind up in December 2017 in line with the project schedule.

Q: Can you please explain to us the technologies and construction methods involved in the project?

A:  Various construction methods will be involved in carrying out the project to show off the natural favors that have been endowed to the region of Gangwon Province where the railroad is to pass through. The sections that go though the rivers will have double facilities to prevent contamination as much as possible while special construction methods will be employed to build tunnels to make the entrances and exits as environmentally friendly as possible with special trails installed for wild animals to protect them. The NATM construction method will be employed to build 35 tunnels along the railroad to not only reduce noise within the installations inside the tunnels, but also to cut short the construction periods by using special explosives.

The methods for drilling and for lining concrete at the same time will be used to shorten the construction period and to be ready for delays in the work on railroad foundations.

The dirt collection facilities will be installed in the tunnels to collect dirt as well as emergency exits in case of accidents and three gas vents to take care of gases inside the tunnels.

Q:  What are some of the ways being applied to strengthen the safety measures against accidents while undertaking the project?

A:  At the present time, our construction team has classified the projects into three safety codes including danger, warning, and attention based on the CEO six management strategy, and the Wonju-Gangneung Project is no exception.

Right now, we set up a safety training facility at the No. 8 Section to provide education on the prevention of accidents in order to prepare them for any accident during the work on the railroad. We also plan to set up a similar facility at Sections No. 1-5 and Section No. 11 when the work on those sections begins.

Q:  What would be the effect from the rail line when it is completed?

A:  We expect the effects from the Wonju-Gangneung Line to be as follow:

First, the new railroad connecting the Capital area and the central and east coast regions crisscrossing the nation from west to east will create enormous momentum to develop Gangwon Province and balance development nationwide and save logistics costs in transporting goods from the east to other regions in the country, the Capital area in particular.

Second, the travel time from Seoul to Gangneung will be cut to one hour and six minutes, saving five hours and 18 minutes from the time usually taken on the old railroad and improving the accessibility from the eastern region to the Seoul area, saving logistics expenses in a huge way.

Third, the economic benefit will amount to 8.2 trillion won in annual terms with an employment effect of 44,348 jobs a year.

Fourth, the travel time from Incheon International Airport via Chongyangri to Jinbu through Wonju will take one hour and 28 minutes. Jinbu Station will be the rail terminal providing easy access to Winter Olympic events in Pyeongchang and other places such as resorts, making it an enormous boost to the success of the international sports event.