Subway Line 9 to Link Western, Eastern Seoul
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Citizens will be able to travel between Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul to the Olympic Stadium in southeastern Seoul in 35 minutes when a new subway line is constructed.
The final plan of the second section of subway line No. 9 was confirmed Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.
The first section of the new line _ 25.5 kilometers between Gimpo airport to Nonhyeon-dong in southern Seoul _ has been under construction at a cost of 3.2 trillion won. With 25 stations, the construction of the section is scheduled to finish in 2008 for opening in the first half of 2009.
The second section will link Nonhyeon-dong and Bangi-dong in eastern Seoul via the Olympic Stadium in Jamsil. The construction of the 12.5-kilometer section with 12 stations will begin at the end of this year with a budget of 1.3 trillion won.
The 4.5-kilometer part between Nonhyeon-dong and the stadium will open in 2014, and the remaining 8-kilometer part connecting the stadium and Bangi-dong, in 2016.
The subway constructor and operator, Seoul Metro Line 9 Corporation, plans to operate both local trains, which will stop at every station, and express trains that will stop at several key stations including junctions. It will take 35 minutes between Gimpo airport and the Olympic Stadium on an express train, and 62 minutes on a local train.
``The network of subway lines will be improved when the construction is completed as passengers on line No. 9 will be able to transfer to lines No. 2, 3, 5, 8 and the line to Bundang. The new line will also help residents in southern Seoul and Gyeonggi provincial cities including Seongnam and Hanam get better access to the airport,'' a ministry official said.
Line No. 9 is also expected to disperse the demand for line No. 2, the route having the most number of users, providing passengers with less crowded travel.
Trains on the new line will operate every four minutes in the early stages of operation in 2016, and the intervals will be shortened to 3.5 minutes gradually. The corporation expects to transport 560,000 passengers per day.