The Gyeongbu high-speed railway, also known as Gyeongbu HSR, is South Korea's first high-speed rail line from Seoul to Busan. KTX high-speed trains operate three sections of the line. On 1 April 2004, the first two sections commenced service: one between a junction near Geumcheon-gu Office station, Seoul and a junction at Daejeonjochajang station north of Daejeon, and another between a junction at Okcheon station, southeast of Daejeon, and a junction near Jicheon station, north of Daegu. On 1 November 2010, the third section started operations. The section ran between a junction west of Daegu and Busan. The missing gaps across the urban areas of Daejeon and Daegu were in construction for an expected opening in 2014, with separate tracks into Seoul Station also being planned. The temporary ends of the three sections were connected to the parallel conventional Gyeongbu Line by tracks that will serve as interconnecting branches upon the completion of the entire line. On 1 August 2015, line construction between the urban areas of Daejeon and Daegu were completed, thus connecting all sections of the HSR.
As of November 2010, two train services use the line: the Gyeongbu KTX Line, with trains running along the Gyeongbu HSR or the parallel Gyeongbu Line only; and the Honam KTX Line, with trains leaving the Gyeongbu HSR at Daejeon and continuing on the conventional Honam Line. A number of other high-speed lines branching from the Gyeongbu HSR are planned or are in construction, and several more KTX services using connecting conventional rail lines are also planned. After 2016, the privately owned SRT service started operations on the railway from Suseo station in Seoul.
History
Origins The Seoul-Busan axis is Korea's main traffic corridor. In 1995, it housed 73.3% of Korea's population, and conducted 70% of the freight traffic and 66% of the passenger traffic. With both the Gyeongbu Expressway and Korail's Gyeongbu Line congested, the government saw the need for another mode of transport.
The first proposals for a second Seoul-Busan railway line originated from a study prepared between 1972 and 1974 by experts of France's SNCF and Japan Railway Technical Service on a request from the IBRD. A more detailed 1978-1981 study by KAIST, focusing on the needs of freight transport, also came to the conclusion that separating off long-distance passenger traffic on a high-speed passenger railway would be advisable, thus it was taken up in Korea's next Five Year Plan.
During the next years, several feasibility studies were prepared for a high-speed line between Busan and Seoul with a travel time of 1 hour and 30 minutes, which gave positive results. In 1989, following the go-ahead for the project, the institutions to manage its preparation were established: the Gyeongbu High Speed Electric Railway & New International Airport Committee, and the High Speed Electric Railway Planning Department (later renamed HSR Project Planning Board). In 1990, the foreseen Seoul-Busan travel time was 1 hour 51 minutes, the project was to be implemented by August 1998, and costs were estimated at 5,846.2 billion South Korean won (₩) in 1988 prices, of which ₩4.8 trillion was foreseen for the high-speed line itself, and the remainder for rolling stock.
In 1991, bids were called for the supply and technology transfer of the core system technology, which in addition to the rolling stock also included the catenary and signalling of the line. On 26 August 1991, three competitors submitted bids: consortia led by GEC-Alsthom (today Alstom), one of the builders of France's TGV trains; Siemens, one of the builders of Germany's ICE trains; and Mitsubishi, one of the builders of Japan's Shinkansen trains.
Once planning progressed, in March 1992, the Korea High Speed Rail Construction Authority (KHSRCA) was established as a separate body with own budget responsible for the project. In the 1993 reappraisal of the project, the finishing date was pushed out to May 2002, and estimated costs grew to ₩10.74 trillion. 82% of the cost increase was due to a 90% increase of unit costs in the construction sector (mostly labour costs but also material costs), the remainder due to alignment changes (longer route, more stations), though some city tunnels were dropped. To finance the project, the option of a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) franchise was rejected as too risky. Funding included direct government grants (35%), government (10%) and foreign (18%) loans, domestic bond sales (31%) and private capital (6%).
Start of construction KHSRCA started construction of the Gyeongbu high-speed railway (Gyeongbu HSR) on 30 June 1992, on the long section from Cheonan to Daejeon, which was intended for use as test track.
Construction started before the choice of the main technology supplier, thus alignment design was set out to be compatible with all choices. Superstructure-related design specifications included a minimum curve radius of , a maximum gradient of 1.5%, which was later increased to 2.5%, an open line cross section including two tracks with centerlines apart, and a two-track tunnel cross sectional area of . Of the planned line, would be laid on bridges, and another in tunnels. However, plans were changed repeatedly, in particular those for city sections, following disputes with local governments. Planned operating speed was also reduced from to the maximum of high-speed trains on the market, thus, with project variants of up to line length, Seoul–Busan travel times of up to 2 hours 4 minutes were projected.
Construction suffered from early quality problems. After an independent safety inspection in 1996, repairs were needed at 190 locations, and partial reconstruction was needed at another 39 locations.
Meanwhile, the bidding of the core system technology contract progressed through five rounds of evaluation, and the French and German consortia submitted final bids on 15 June 1993. KHSRCA announced that the GEC-Alsthom-led consortium was the preferred bidder on 20 August 1993, and the contract was signed on 14 June 1994. The consortium consisted of GEC-Alsthom and its Korean subsidiary Eukorail.
The technology was almost identical to that found on the high-speed lines of France's TGV system. Track-related design specifications included a design speed of , standard gauge, continuously welded rails with UIC 60 profile (), wide concrete sleepers, high ballast bed, swing-nose switches for high-speed passage, 25 kV/60 Hz electrification, standard French TVM 430 automatic cab signalling and centralised train control.
First phase: Seoul–Daegu and connected upgrades
Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the government decided to realise the Gyeongbu HSR in two phases. In a first phase, of the high-speed line would be finished by 2004, with trains travelling along the upgraded conventional line along the rest of the planned route. With the rest of the now long Gyeongbu HSR (now including of viaducts and of tunnels) finished, travel time was foreseen to be 1 hour 56 minutes. The budget for the first phase was set at ₩12,737.7 billion, that for the entire project at ₩18,435.8 billion in 1998 prices. While the share of government contributions remained unchanged, the share of foreign loans, domestic bond sales and private capital changed to 24%, 29% and 2%.
Well ahead of the opening of the Gyeongbu HSR for regular service, in December 1999, of the test section was finished to enable trials with trains. The test section extended to on 26 June 2000.
After further design changes, the high-speed tracks were finished over a length of , with of interconnections to the conventional Gyeongbu Line, including at a short interruption at Daejeon. The high-speed section itself included 84 viaducts with a combined length of , among them the Pungse Viaduct; and 46 tunnels with a combined length of , among them the Iljik Tunnel and the Hwanghak Tunnel. Hwanghak Tunnel became Korea's longest bored tunnel once the line opened.
The project budget also included the electrification of the short connecting section at Daejeon and the Daegu-Busan section of the existing Gyeongbu Line, as well as the entire Honam Line from Daejeon to Mokpo. The Seoul–Busan route length was reduced from .
The infrastructure and rolling stock were built in the framework of a technology transfer agreement between core system supplier Alstom and local companies, with Alstom's part of the project amounting to US$2.1 billion resp. €1.5 billion. Other foreign contributors included SNCF (training and supervision of infrastructure and operations), Pandrol and Vossloh (rail fastenings), and Cegelec (catenary). Their domestic partners for the infrastructure parts were LG Industrial Systems and Samsung (signalling and train control); ILJIN and LG Cable (catenary). SYSTRA and Bechtel was also involved in project management.
After 12 years of construction, service using the first phase of the Gyeongbu HSR started on 1 April 2004.
Second phase: Daegu–Busan The Daegu–Busan section of the Gyeongbu HSR became a separate project with the July 1998 project revision, with a budget of ₩5,698.1 billion, to be funded from direct government and private sources at the same ratios as for phase 1. In August 2006, the project was modified to include the downtown passages of Daejeon and Daegu, as well as additional stations along the phase 1 section at Osong, between Cheonan and Daejeon; and Gimcheon, (between Daejeon and Daegu. Consequently, the budget was increased to 7,190.0 billion won, and the government's share of the funding was increased by 5 percentage points to 50%.
Construction started in June 2002. The of new tracks, consisting of the South Daegu Interconnection, of high-speed tracks, and a low-speed section connecting into Busan station, follow a long curve to the northeast of the existing Gyeongbu Line, with new stations for Gyeongju and Ulsan built well outside of the city centres. The Seoul–Busan travel distance along the second phase route is . The section includes 54 viaducts with a total length of and 38 tunnels with a total length of . The two largest structures are the long Geomjeung Tunnel, under Mount Geumjeong at the Busan end of the line; and the 13,270 m long Wonhyo Tunnel, under Mount Cheonseong south-west of Ulsan, which will be the longest and second longest tunnels in Korea once the line is opened.
The original plans foresaw a second-phase opening in 2008, with new trains cruising at a top speed of cutting Seoul-Busan travel times to just 1 hour and 56 minutes. However, construction was delayed, and trains with higher top speeds weren't yet available. The main cause of delay was a long dispute over the environmental impact assessment of the Wonhyo Tunnel, which passes under a wetland area. The dispute gained nationwide and international attention due to the repeated hunger strikes of a Buddhist nun, led to a suspension of works in 2005, and only ended with a supreme court ruling in June 2006.
For the second phase of the Gyeongbu HSR, the RHEDA 2000 ballastless track system of German manufacturer RAIL.ONE was chosen. However, construction faced quality problems concerning sleepers and fastenings. In February 2009, cracks were found on 332 newly laid concrete sleepers on the long section between Daegu and Ulsan, the cause of which was improper water insulation. Meanwhile, it was revealed that the Pandrol and Vossloh clips chosen for the rail fastenings were submitted to indoor tests only, omitting field tests, and the Pandrol clips saw no prior use on another high-speed line.
With the exception of the sections across Daejeon and Daegu, the second phase went into service on 1 November 2010. By that time, ₩4,905.7 billion was spent out of a second phase budget, or ₩17,643.4 billion out of the total.