An express subway will finally link Gangnam, Yeouido and Incheon International Airport when it is completed in two or three years. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will meet with KORAIL Airport Railroad and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation on Thursday and start talks to get the project going.
The National Assembly has already authorized a budget of W300 million (US$1=W1,108) for feasibility studies for the project, which will link the airport and No. 9 lines.
Once the two lines are connected they will form a continuous 61-km railway, stretching even further once Subway Line No. 9 is extended to Jamsil early next year.
That will save residents in the Gangnam and Yeoyido areas having to switch to the airport railroad at Gimpo Airport. The trip from Gangnam to Incheon will take about one hour and from Yeouido 45 minutes.
Lee Hag-jae of the National Assembly's budget committee said, "A study conducted in 2004 and 2005 by the Korea Transport Institute showed sufficient demand" for the express line. He added that the project will boost efficiency for a relatively small amount of money.
A KTX line to Incheon airport has racked up 300,000 users in the five months since it opened, or 2,100 users a day. The government had originally anticipated only 1,426 passengers a day.
