Yoon says new, faster KTX train to enter service in May

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Monday that a new and faster model of the Korea Train Express (KTX) train will enter service in May to help shorten travel times and boost regional development.

Yoon made the remark after taking part in an unveiling ceremony for the KTX-Cheongnyong — named through a public contest to mean "blue dragon" in the Year of the Blue Dragon — at Daejeon Station in the city 139 kilometers south of Seoul.

The KTX-Cheongnyong will be the fastest train in the country with a maximum speed of 320 km per hour. The presidential office said the train's advanced speed controls make it optimal for the country's railways, with their many curves and short distances between stops.

Moreover, the new model was manufactured with 100 percent local design and engineering, and 87 percent domestic parts.

"Starting in May, we will put the KTX-Cheongnyong into service on the Gyeongbu and Honam lines, and expand rapid high-speed trains that shorten travel time by up to 30 minutes," Yoon said during a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the KTX trains at the Korea Railroad Corp. headquarters in Daejeon. He was referring to train lines connecting Seoul to Busan and Daejeon to Mokpo, respectively.

Rapid high-speed trains will stop only once or twice to reduce travel time between Seoul and Busan to 2 hours and 10 minutes, and between Yongsan and Gwangju to 1 hour and 30 minutes, Yoon said.

"We will expand the high-speed rail network across the nation to make the entire country reachable within two hours," he said. "Based on high-speed rail, we will open a regional era in which it is good to live anywhere in the country." (Yonhap)