'Heading towards High-
Speed Railway Power'

Korea pursues the development of maximum 400km/h next-generation railway cars (HEMU-400X) to make inroads in overseas railroad markets

Choi Jae-gil, director general of Railroad Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said the government is placing priority on advancing into foreign markets and developing next-generation high-speed railways to increase the development of the domestic railroad industry. He made the remarks during an interview with NewsWorld. The following are the excerpts of his interview.
Question: Would you explain the current situation of Korea's railroad transportation for passengers and cargo and the prospects in the future?
Answer: Though passenger transportation has decreased, it started to increase since the beginning of the high-speed railway service in 2004. Passenger traffic now accounts for 20 percent of the whole passenger transportation. The transportation by KTX and electric railways has continued to increase, though that by conventional railways like Saemaeul and Mugunghwa has been decreasing.
Railway cargo transportation has reached 40 million tons, accounting for 6 percent of the total. By category, while the container transportation has continued to increase, the transportation of coal, mining goods and chemical fertilizers has been decreasing, due to change in economic structure.
Although the railroad transportation accounts for a little portion due to a lack of facilities and superannuating, we expect that it will increase in the future, boosted by beginning of the Gyeongbu Phase II KTX service and opening of the Honam high-speed railway along the southwestern coastal line. In addition, the electrification and double-tracking of major lines will enable the railway to account for an increasing portion of transportation. In particular, the new lines will greatly help increase the portion of passenger transportation in the mid and long trip sectors.
Q: How was the operation of KTX over the past three years and what is your future plans?
A: The KTX, which opened in April 1, 2004, had a far-reaching impact upon the national traffic system and the people's life as a whole. The half-day tour concept has become a reality in all regions of the nation as people have become able to make a 2-hour trip between Seoul and Busan. The transportation portion in mid-and-long ranges has been realigned primarily around KTX and its stop cities.
Against this backdrop, the transportation volume and income have continued to increase. In particular, we saw the record 100 millionth passenger accumulative basis in April 21, three years and 21 days after the launch of the KTX service. This represents breaking the record with a shorter period compared with 3 years and 47 days for Japan and five years for France. In terms of average passenger per day, we saw 100,000 people a day from the year 2006, compared with 72,000 in 2004. This year, it climbed to 102,000.
Prompted by an increase in transportation volume, income has also risen. Annual income which amounted to only 900 billion won in 2005 soared to 980 billion won in 2006 and is expected to increase to more than 1 trillion won this year. The average daily income which stood at 2.1 billion won has surged to 2.8 billion won this year.
Together with the rise in transportation volume, the punctuality rate (within 5 minutes) has improved. Since having registered 86.6 percent in 2004, the first year of opening the service, we have registered 93.7 percent in 2005, 91.6 percent in 2006 and 91-92 percent this year. These on time rates mirror those of advanced industrial nations. In France, for instance, the rate remained at only 75 percent at the start of the service and maintained 91.5 percent rate on average in the three years after the beginning of the TGV's southeastern lines.
The government plans to implement a package of measures designed to expand the railroad networks including the one linking KTX to Incheon International Airport (to be completed in 2009) and double-tracking of lines between Cheonan and Onyang (to be completed in 2008). We will also try efforts to let the people have easier access to the KTX stations by developing them into complex transfer centers.
Q: Our readers would like to know about the progress regarding the second-stage construction of high-speed railroad between Seoul and Busan.
A: The project has progressed in accordance with original plans set up in August, 2006. The second project on lines between Daegu and Busan has been 44 percent completed to date with the goal of completing it in 10 years. This year we plan to spend 789 billion won and realize 51 percent completion. We plan to finish the drawings to construct additional stops in Osong, Gimcheon, Gumi and Ulsan by 2007 with the goal of embarking on construction from 2008. The drawing for the construction of lines through the downtown of Daejeon and Daegu will be finished by the end of the year with construction planned to begin from 2008 for completion in 2014.
The completion of the second-stage KTX will see the running time between Seoul and Busan being shortened by 38 minutes to 130 minutes since it already was curtailed 82 minutes with the beginning of the first-stage line service. All told, passengers will be able to travel Seoul and Busan in 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Q: Can you tell our readers about the plan for the construction of Honam high-speed railway?
A: The project for the Honam (Southwest Jeolla Province) high-speed railway has progressed without any failure since it was set up in August, 2006. The project features the construction of 230.9 km―long railroad between Oseong and Mokpo by investing 10.5417 trillion won in the period between 2006 and 2017. Fifty percent of the money will come from the national coffers while the remaining 50 percent will be funneled from The Korea Rail Network Authority. The line between Oseong and Gwangju will be opened in 2015 while that between Gwangju and Mokpo is slated to be open in 2017. Basic drawings will be completed by the year 2008 with construction planned to start in 2009.
The completion of Honam high-speed railway will shorten the travel time between Seoul and Gwangju by 60 minutes to 93 minutes and the line between Seoul and Mokpo by 79 minutes to 106 minutes. The completion will also speed up the advent of the concept of half-day tour in the whole parts of the country, thus greatly helping improve Korea's living standard. It will speed up the transportation of people and cargo and help enhance national competitiveness and create a setting for balanced regional development.
Q: Please explain the plan for the development of 400km/h "next-generation high-speed railway"and the "Korean-style tilting railway."A: Recently Korea's railroad technology has been improving more rapidly than any other nation in the world. Since we successfully developed the 350km/h Korean-style railway, we plan to commercially operate them on the Honam line in 2009 and Jeolla Line in 2010. The Korean-style tilting railway car has already been developed and been in use since 2006.
The Ministry of Construction and Transportation, based on its experience of developing the Korean-style high-speed railways, has been pursuing the development of maximum 400km/h next-generation railway cars (HEMU-400X) to secure competitiveness in the local market and make inroads into overseas railroad markets while ensuring steady technology development. To that end, we plan to invest 69.2 billion won starting this year until 2012 for the development of test cars (with six cars composing one unit). For this purpose, a total of 38 institutes like The Korea Railroad Research Institutes have been taking active roles. They will begin development of basic concept of the next-generation railway this year and continue research on test run of the cars.
For stabilizing and securing safety for the Korean-style tilting cars developed in 2006, we have been carrying out projects for implementation. We plan to spend 38.6 billion won from the public sector and 6.2 billion won from private sources over a 12 year period to come and test run is being made in Chungbuk line and Honam line. We plan to make more than 100,000 km test run to secure the safety for the tilting cars and will consider the proper timing for operating the cars commercially.
Q: Would you introduce the plan for Korean railroad industry to advance into foreign railroad and construction markets?
A: Korea has emerged as power nation in the high-speed railway area since it has opened the Gyeongbu (Seoul-Busan) High-Speed Railway ('04), developed the Korean-style high-speed railway ('02) and succeeded in test running of 350km/h railway ('06). The Ministry of Construction and Transportation, based on the development of technology, has been exerting efforts to enable Korean industry to advance into overseas markets.
Currently, many countries ― Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil, UAE, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Azerbaijan ― have plans to develop high-speed railways and have been expressing intention to have business agreements with us.
For the goal of expediting the nation's technology advancement into overseas markets, the ministry is poised to conduct market research in each nation and promote cooperative relations continuously. For more systematic and effective assistance for advancing into the foreign markets, the ministry has set up the "corp for high-speed railway overseas advancement,"composed of officials and experts from the government, Korea Railway, and related institutes.
The corporation members visited Vietnam and Malaysia in November, 2006, to explain about the high-speed railway and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). They also visited Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan in December, 2006, agreeing on technology feasibility study pertinent to technology improvements.
For domestic participation in the railroad improvement project in Azerbaijan, we dispatched a technology delegation to the site and conducted feasibility studies. Based on on-site research we signed MOU for mutual cooperation. We also plan to go ahead with close consultation with Azerbaijan so that an increasing number of Korean companies can take part in relevant projects.
In the meantime, an international seminar was held in Korea to discuss ways of cooperation with Brazil, which plans to set up a high-speed railway linking Rio de Janeiro and St. Paulo. The seminar has helped advertise the nation's high technology in high-speed railway sector and solidify cooperative relations between Korea and Brazil.
The Ministry will press ahead with efforts to advertise the nation's high-speed railway technology through various international conferences, setup of mutual cooperative meetings and joint technology development with nations pushing for construction of high-speed railways. Through these efforts, domestic companies will have more opportunities to advance into foreign markets by getting updated information, among other things. We will establish cooperative relations with companies willing to make inroads into foreign markets and seek appropriate ways of assisting them. nw

Choi Jae-gil, director general of Railroad Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Construction and Transportation