Seoul Metropolitan Subway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A map of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway.

The Seoul Metropolitan Subway is one of the most heavily used subway systems in the world, with well over 8 million trips daily on the system's ten lines (total figures for Seoul Metro, Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation & Korean Railroad commuter lines). The system serves Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi province and Incheon city, with a connection to the Incheon subway system. It began to serve Cheonan, Chungnam province in 2005.

Current total length of the subway system is about 287 km (except Korail lines).

1 Operators
2 History
3 Lines
4 Trains
5 Ticket
6 New construction
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Operators

Looking down a subway train tube in Seoul.

The subway is operated by three different organisations:

Korail; 한국철도공사 (Bundang Line, Yongsan-Deokso Line, most of Line 1, and parts of Lines 3 and 4);
Seoul Metro; 서울메트로 (Line 2, underground part of Line 1, and most of Lines 3 and 4). The corporation runs a total of 199 trains at 115 stations on lines 1-4. Generally, operation intervals are 2.5 -3 minutes during rush hours and 4-6 minutes during non-rush hours. An average of 3,879,000 passengers use subway lines 1-4 everyday. and
Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation; 서울특별시도시철도공사 (SMRT) (Lines 5, 6, 7, and 8).

And, these are future system operaters:

Seoul Metro Line 9 Corporation for Seoul Subway Line 9
'New Bundang Line Corporation' for New Bundang Line
Yongin Light Rail Corporation for EverLine Rapid Transit System

[edit] History

The Korail, the forerunner of the Seoul Metro, began operating Line 1 in 1974. Lines 2, 3, and 4 followed in the late 1970s and 1980s. The SMRT was formed in 1994 to take over operation of lines 5 to 8.

[edit] Lines

The subway lines and their operators and colours are as follows:

Color	Name/Number	Korean name	Start	End	Operator
dark blue	Line 1	서울 지하철 1호선	Soyosan	Incheon/Cheonan	Korail (Soyosan-Hoegi, Namyeong-Cheonan, Guro-Incheon, Sihung-Gwangmyeong) / Seoul Metro (Seoul Station-Cheongnyangni)
green	Line 2	서울 지하철 2호선	City Hall Seongsu Sindorim	City Hall Sinseol-dong Kkachisan	Seoul Metro (except Kkachisan. SMRT runs Kkachisan staion.)
orange	Line 3	서울 지하철 3호선	Daehwa	Suseo	Seoul Metro (Jichuk-Suseo) / Korail (Jichuk-Daehwa)
blue	Line 4	서울 지하철 4호선	Danggogae	Oido	Seoul Metro (Danggogae-Namtaeryeong) / Korail (Seonbawi-Oido)
purple	Line 5	서울 지하철 5호선	Banghwa	Sangil-dong/Macheon	SMRT
brown	Line 6	서울 지하철 6호선	Eungam	Bonghwasan	SMRT
olive	Line 7	서울 지하철 7호선	Jangam	Onsu	SMRT
pink	Line 8	서울 지하철 8호선	Amsa	Moran	SMRT
lemon	Bundang Line	수도권 전철 분당선	Seolleung	Bojeong	Korail
aqua	Yongsan-Deokso Line	수도권 전철 용산-덕소선	Yongsan	Deokso	Korail

[edit] Trains

see also : Seoul Metropolitan Subway trains

[edit] Ticket

Seoul subway tickets

Ticket prices start at 900 won for a trip up to 12 km, with 100 won added for each 6 km after that. Half-price children's tickets are available. Riders may also enter the system using a transportation card such as T-money, Upass, and KB Free Pass. There is a 100 won discount for using a transportation card. The city government is planning to use Seoul Citypass as a transportation card.

[edit] New construction

Two new subway lines are currently under construction and have yet to open:

Line 9 will run east from Gimpo Airport along the south bank of the Han River. Construction of the first phase began in April 2002 and is due for completion in 2008. [1]
New Bundang Line will be a new line from Gangnam in Seoul to Jeongja in Bundang, Seongnam. Construction is due to be completed in 2010.

Several existing lines are also currently undergoing extension:

Line 3 will be extended south from Suseo to Garak Market and Ogeum, interchanging with lines 8 and 5 respectively, by 2009.[2]
By 2008, the Bundang line will be extended north from Seolleung to Wangsimni and south to Yongin and Suwon, with eventual plans for it to run all the way to Incheon, completing a southern outer semicircle.[3]
Line 7 will be extended west 9.8 km from Onsu to meet Incheon Subway line 1 at Bupyeong-gu Office. Nine new stations will be added by 2010.

There are several major works still in the planning stage:

A 10 km extension to the New Bundang Line (see above) northward from Gangnam station to Yongsan is under consideration. If approved, the project is estimated to cost at least 400 billion won[4].
By the end of 2011, Seoul City plans to build a 10.72 km 'light' subway line from Ui-dong to Sinseol-dong in northern Seoul[5]. The line is expected to carry 110,000 passengers a day and will have 12 stations. It will connect to Line 4 at Sungshin Women's University Station, Line 6 at Bomun Station and Sinseol-dong Station (Line 1 & 2).
EverLine Rapid Transit System will be a new line branching off the Bundang line extension and running east into Yongin and then to the theme park Everland.[6]
An extension of the Jungang Line from Deokso is also planned. This should eventually terminate in Yongmun Station.[7]