Sejong relocation set to worsen KTX seat shortage
Office workers commuting to the Seoul metropolitan area and other parts of the region wait for trains on the platform at Osong Station in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. Korea Times photo by Jung Min-seung
Civil servants commuting from Seoul to Sejong face growing concerns over an already severe shortage of high-speed rail tickets, as the government prepares to relocate thousands of officials to the administrative city.
Kim, a 52-year-old civil servant who commutes from his home in Seoul to Government Complex Sejong, said he was worried after the government recently announced its second-phase relocation plan for central government agencies.
Even now, securing a high-speed train ticket departing from Seoul is difficult. The large-scale transfer of government personnel could make finding a seat even harder.
“If you let your guard down and miss the ticket reservations, which open a month in advance, you could end up arriving late to work or having to take a half-day off,” Kim said. “If nearly 3,000 civil servants move to Sejong next year alone, the morning commute will be nothing short of a battle.”
The government's second-phase relocation plan has stirred concern among officials in Sejong. Many are expected to continue commuting from Seoul and other existing places of residence, at least temporarily, rather than immediately moving their families and establishing homes in Sejong, partly because of their children's education.
“The disruption to morning commutes will be unavoidable, given the scale of the relocation,” a government official said on Wednesday. “The government's plan to consider temporary transportation support for officials being transferred takes into account the possibility that family relocations may be delayed.”
Providing commuter buses is emerging as the leading option.
However, traveling by bus from Seoul's Gangnam Express Bus Terminal to Sejong takes nearly two hours, and the fatigue associated with long-distance commuting is another concern. As a result, many officials are likely to prefer high-speed rail.
This has prompted a quip among government officials that Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) will be the biggest beneficiary of the relocation of central government agencies.
KORAIL does not disclose seat occupancy rates, citing business confidentiality. However, demand for services connecting Osong Station with Suseo, Pyeongtaek-Jije, Hwaseong Dongtan and Gwangmyeong stations is reportedly exceptionally high.
“Buying a same-day ticket on the Suseo-Osong route, which connects the Gangnam area of Seoul, is virtually impossible regardless of the time of day,” an interior ministry official said. “During rush hour, it is commonplace for even the passageways between train cars to be packed with passengers.”
Several factors are contributing to the shortage of seats. Many people living outside Seoul travel to the capital for medical treatment at major hospitals near Suseo Station, while the growing popularity of independent travel among foreign tourists has also driven up demand for rail services.
According to KORAIL, the number of foreign rail passengers rose from 3.44 million in 2023 to 6.06 million in 2025, an increase of approximately 80 percent in just two years.
Passenger traffic at Osong Station has also continued to grow.
The number of passengers boarding and alighting at the station surged from 1.5 million in 2012 to 4.1 million in 2015, when the Honam High-Speed Railway opened. The figure surpassed 5 million in 2016, when the SRT began operations.
Last year, Osong Station handled 9.53 million passenger movements. A further 7.42 million were recorded through the end of September this year, putting the station on course to surpass 10 million for the full year.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to expand the Pyeongtaek-Osong rail corridor by adding a second set of double tracks to increase high-speed train services.
Once the project is completed, the line's capacity is expected to double from the current 190 train movements per day. The number of one-way train movements on the Pyeongtaek-Osong section is projected to increase from 179 to 237.
However, the opening, initially scheduled for late 2027, has been delayed until 2028, meaning the additional capacity is unlikely to ease the seat shortage in the near term.
“Before the relocation of government agencies gets fully underway, we need to assess commuting demand and coordinate with relevant organizations on transportation measures, including increasing high-speed train services,” an official from the interior ministry's Government Complex Management Office said.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.