Railway, Transportation Pursuing Green Growth

Government focusing on speed competitiveness, better connection

The Korean railways industry has become a subject of extensive concern and investment as a transportation means pursing the low-carbon, green growth paradigm, creating jobs and boasting high efficiency. Continuous investments into the railway sector have brought the total length of railway tracks to 3,912 km covering 80 routes including urban railway lines. High-speed railway KTX trains are operated an average of 316 times daily, compared to 3,215 times for common trains, including those running in metropolitan areas, and 6,781 times for urban railway trains.
The government plans to concentrate on improving speed competitiveness and facilitating transportation connection in order to create a new demand for railways and raise the transportation burden share of railways.
The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and Lee Seung-ho, director general for railway policy at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM), who spoke about mid- and long-term railway development plans.
Question: Will you tell us about the current status of the Korean railway industry and its prospects?
Answer: The domestic railway industry has made strides over 110 years since the Gyeongin (Seoul-Incheon) railway line made its debut in 1899. Of late, the industry has become a subject of extensive concern and investment as a means of transportation pursing the low-carbon, green growth paradigm, creating jobs and boasting high efficiency.
The railway industry now handles approximately 3.2 billion passengers and about 46.81 million tons of cargo, accounting for 24.3 percent and 6.4 percent of the nation’s aggregate passenger transportation volumes, respectively.
Continuous investments in the railway sector have brought the total length of railway tracks to 3,912 km covering 80 routes including urban railway lines. High-speed railway KTX trains are operated an average of 316 times daily, compared to 3,215 times for common trains, including those running in metropolitan areas, and 6,781 times for urban railway trains.
If the Gyeongbu (Seoul-Busan) high-speed railway line and the Honam (Seoul-Mokpo) high-speed railway line are open to traffic in 2014 and 2017, respectively, it will take two hours and 10 minutes to travel from Seoul to Busan, one hour and 33 minutes from Seoul to Gwangju and one hour and 46 minutes from Seoul to Mokpo. The completion of the two high-speed railway lines is expected to play a pivotal role in restructuring national territory space infrastructure by making the whole of the nation’s territory a half-day living sphere and a single economic sphere.
Q: Will you tell us about strategies to develop the railway industry in the mid- and long-term perspective under the nation’s low-carbon, green growth paradigm?
A: Railways spend 11.9 percent less energy than passenger vehicles and emit 17.3 percent of a passenger car’s CO2 emissions. If the transportation share of railways goes up 1 percent, it will result in conserving energy worth about 600 billion won yearly and reducing transportation congestion costs by 280 billion won. As a result, raising the portion of railways of the nation’s transportation volumes can be summed up as a core task pursuing the low-carbon, green growth paradigm.
Initially, the government plans to concentrate on improving speed competitiveness and facilitating transportation connection in order to create railways’ new demand and raise railways’ transportation burden share.
In the case of passenger transportation, high-speed projects linking Seoul and Busan, Seoul and Mokpo and ones in the Seoul metropolitan area will be implemented without a hitch to change major trunk routes of the national territory into high-speed ones and secure speed competitiveness by transforming the existing railway routes including the Jungang Line (Cheongnyangni-Gyeongju) and the Gyeongjeon Line (Samnyangjin-Jinju) into high-speed ones. Additional express trains will be put on railways tracks in the Seoul metropolitan area to cope with a surge in passenger transportation demand during morning and afternoon rush hours, while some railways facilities, including tracks and traffic signals, will be improved so as to upgrade passengers’ convenience and fix trains’ delayed operation. In addition, bicycle parking lots will be installed at plazas of railroad stations as part of efforts to build a transportation network connecting other transportation means and ease the inconvenience to passengers.
In the case of cargo transportation, the government aims at raising the portion of railways in the nation’s cargo transportation volumes from the current 6.4 percent to 15 percent in 2012. To this end, we’re striving to cut transportation costs by putting double-floor loading cargo trains, multiple-car trains and operating them at night to raise transportation capability and reduce transportation time by operating express cargo trains, thus strengthening the competitiveness of the railroad logistics industry. Approach lines leading to ports and industrial complexes will be expanded so as to make access to railroad lines easier. Also, railroad logistics facilities will be continuously widened.
The government plans to cut down on railway construction costs by introducing optimal design standards and innovating construction management methods while striving to upgrade the operation and management of railways to levels of advanced countries by advancing the use of railways by curtailing construction periods and working out ways to improve operation and management efficiency starting from the design stage. We plan to aggressively make inroads into foreign markets by making the most of the technology and experience the domestic railways industry has accumulated in order to contribute to creating national wealth, as the Korean nuclear power industry has done overseas.
Q: The foreign railways market has seen steady growth in keeping with the global green growth trends. Will you tell us about the current status of the nation’s entry into overseas markets and government support plans?
A: Thanks to continuous technology investments and increased investments into the railways sector and efforts to explore foreign markets, the Korean railways industry has made remarkable achievements in such areas as supervision/consulting and railway vehicles. Korea is now trying to make inroads overseas in the whole of the railways industries, including construction, vehicles and traffic signal systems.
Hyundai Rotem has a track record of having exported electric rail cars worth approximately 1 trillion won to 33 countries including the United States and Canada, and the Korean railway vehicle maker is aggressively bidding for high-speed projects in Turkey and Brazil.
The Korea Railroad Network Authority has won supervision/consulting projects on China’s railroad lines, including the Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway line, the Suining-Chongging test section and the Wuhan-Guangzhou passenger line. Dongmyeong Engineering Consultants & Architecture Co. has received a positive reception for providing supervision to Libya’s second phase trunk railway construction project.
Joint government-civilian teams on the construction, vehicle and operation sectors have been working to enter Brazil’s high-speed railroad and other markets. The government is conducting brisk diplomatic activities by inviting ranking foreign government officials and related project officials to Korea.
The railway industry is an industrial field combining a wide range of comprehensive technologies including construction, vehicles and signals, so related industry circles need to jointly concentrate on their capabilities to make inroads into overseas markets. In this regard, the Korea Railroad Association is taking center stage in exploring overseas markets and conducting marketing activities.
Korea, a financing underdog compared to its rivals such as Japan, plans to provide financial support to Korean firms wanting to enter foreign markets via export and import loans as well as global infrastructure funds.
Q: Will you elaborate on the current status and plans of the second phase section (Daegu-Busan) of the Gyeongbu (Seoul-Busan) High-speed Railway Project?
A: The second phase section will be open to traffic in early November in time for the G-20 Seoul Summit slated for Nov. 11-12 so that the heads of state participating in the summit can get a glimpse into the nation’s high-speed railway technology.
All major construction areas including roadbed track, electricity and signals, have been completed, and installations are currently being test-operated. KTX trains have already been test-operated on the new high-speed section at a wide range of speed between 60km/h and 320km/h. The construction of the four new stations ― Osong, Gimcheon, Gumi, Shingyeongju and Ulsan ― is proceeding without a hitch toward completion in September.
Test-operation of the installations on the new high-speed section will be complete by September and a trial run for commercial operation will be conducted from October and early November when it makes its debut. Checks on the preparations for the opening of the new high-speed railway line, operation and management will be carried out so as not to inconvenience passengers.
Q: Will you specify the current status and plans of the Honam High-speed Project?
A: The government plans to advance by one year to 2014 the Osong-Gwanju section of the Honam High-speed Project as part of efforts to ensure balanced national development and expedite the momentum for growth in the southwestern sphere.
The detailed design of the Osong-Gwangju section was completed last October and the work on the roadbed, which was launched last May, is now underway. Preventive measures are being taken so as not to cause complaints about land compensation, environment and cultural property issues, which could possibly delay the dedication of the high-speed section. Work progress task forces have been in operation to put the Osong-Gwangju section on-line as scheduled. In addition, negotiations among related government agencies will be held at the earliest possible date to determine the route of the Gwangju-Songjeong section and launch its design so that the section can be completed by 2017. nw

Lee Seung-ho, director general for railway policy at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM)