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Travelers will soon be able to travel from Seoul to the Winter Games venue at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in an hour and a half by the KTX high-speed rail system. A KTX train bound for Gangneung departed Seoul Station at 9 am on Nov. 14 and passed Donghwa Station (Wonju, Gangwon Province) on the Jungang Line 50 minutes later. The trip has been shortened from that point as the Gyeonggang Line train switches from the Jungang Line to 120.3 kilometers of newly laid dedicated tracks.

Traveling at top speeds of 150–200 km/h between Seoul and West Wonju and 250 km/h between West Wonju and Gangwon, the Gyeonggang train now travels the 222.7 km between Seoul and Gangneung in one hour and 58 minutes. The event on Nov. 14 was a test run organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to check preparations for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The windows frequently darkened as the train passed through tunnels near Manjong Station midway between Seoul and Gangneung. The train passes through 34 tunnels and over 53 bridges on its Seowonju-Gangneung stretch, which takes it over the Taebaek Mountains. At 21.7 km, Daegwallyeong Tunnel is South Korea’s longest and includes four escape tunnels (with a total length of 4.7 km) for evacuation in an emergency. The train also rattled frequently as it passed through the Manjong-Jinbu stretch, with includes steep inclines.

“We’ve been doing test runs since Oct. 31,” an accompanying KORAIL employee explained. “There are influences from the terrain, but not to the extent that you can really feel it.”

Measuring 201 meters in length with eight cars and 410 seats, the high-speed train travels at a maximum speed of 300 km on the Gyeongbu Line. Starting in 2021, the line is to be used by the EMU, a semi-high-speed train with power distributed among the cars to suit the course, which has numerous curving sections.

At 10:30 am, the train stopped at Jinbu Station (Mt. Odae). Six new stations were opened when the Gyeonggang Line began service: Manjong, Hoengseong, Dunnae, Pyeongchang, Jinbu, and Gangneung. Jinbu has the lowest passenger demand among them at 751, but is also the longest station on the Gyeonggang Line, with a platform length of 338 meters.

As the closest station to the Winter Olympics venue at Pyeongchang Stadium, Jinbu Station has been designed to allow for two trains to be coupled into one 20-car train as passenger volumes increase during the Games. Gyeonggang trains are scheduled to run 51 times a day for the month of Feb. 2018 while the Pyeongchang Olympics are taking place. Sixteen of the trains will have express service traveling from Incheon Airport to Gangneung in 143 minutes.

The distance from Jinbu Station to the Olympic opening and closing ceremony venue at Pyeongchang Olympic Plaza is 20 minutes by car. High-speed trains are bringing major changes to people’s lives. All roads leading to the train station in Jinbu Township were under construction at the time.

By Nam Eun-ju, staff reporter

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