Seoul-Busan Bullet Train to Cut Time by 35 Minutes

When the second phase of the high-speed KTX train project is completed in December 2010, a person will be able to travel from Seoul to Busan in two hours and 10 minutes instead of two hours and 45 minutes now.

The Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministry announced yesterday that it will launch the second phase next month. Under the plan, a station will be built in Ulsan and Busan Rail Station will be renovated by December 2010.

As part of the project, construction was launched last year to build the Shin Gyeongju Station.

Once the project is finished, it will take about 91 minutes to travel the first leg (Seoul to East Daegu), and an additional 39 minutes to travel the second leg.

The Ulsan Station’s construction will start next month. It will be a four-story building whose structure will symbolize the wings of a crane.

Once completed, the station will host 11,000 travelers daily, said the ministry. The new high-speed train will shorten by about two hours travel time to Seoul from Ulsan.

Likewise, the new Busan Station will reduce traffic running through it. In addition, once the construction of North Busan Port is completed, more than 150,000 people will ride the train in the new station, turning it into a new hub of transportation and tourism.

Senior ministry official Lee Jong-guk said, “Once the second-phase project is completed, Koreans can travel to and from every corner of the nation in half a day.”

daviskim@donga.com