Seoul Station

Seoul Station
Seoul Station
Korean name
Hangul	서울역
Hanja	서울驛
Revised Romanization	Seoul-yeok
McCune–Reischauer	Sŏul-yŏk
General information
Location	Bongnae-dong and Dongja-dong, Seoul South Korea
Coordinates	37°33′11″N 126°58′21″E / 37.55319°N 126.97260°E / 37.55319; 126.97260Coordinates: 37°33′11″N 126°58′21″E / 37.55319°N 126.97260°E / 37.55319; 126.97260
Operated by	Korail Korail Airport Co. Seoul Metro
Platforms	7 (Korail Intercity) 1 (Gyeongui–Jungang Line) 1 () 1 () 2 (AREX)
Tracks	14 (Korail Intercity) 2 () 2 () 1 (Gyeongui–Jungang Line) 3 (AREX)
Construction
Structure type	At-grade and underground (Subway and AREX)
Other information
Station code	P313 (Korail) 133 () 426 () A01 (AREX)
History
Opened	November 1925 (1925-11) (original station building)
Traffic
Passengers	93,171 (Korail Intercity)[1] 133,833 ()[2] 32,687 ()[2] 13,263 (Gyeongui–Jungang Line)[2] 29,796 (AREX)[2]

Seoul Station is a major railway station in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The station is served by the Gyeongbu Line, its high-speed counterpart and the Gyeongui Line, with frequent high-speed, express, and local services to various points in South Korea.

Services

The station is the primary terminus for the KTX and express services to Busan. The station is also served by about a dozen trains per day on the Honam Line and its express Gwangju Station and Mokpo. The station used to be the terminus for all long-distance trains on the Gyeongbu, Honam, Jeolla, and Janghang Lines, but in early 2004, the terminus for most Honam, Jeolla, and Janghang Line trains was moved to Yongsan.

AREX express trains provide service to Gimpo Airport and Incheon International Airport. Service began December 29, 2010.

Seoul Subway serves the station with Line 1 and Line 4, and an hourly train on the Gyeongui Line.

Around 2015, a large bus transfer center was built in front of the station's main entrance. It has about nine platforms that services different bus routes in Seoul. It is separated from the main roads with a barrier around the platforms. Yet having a rather complicated structure with many bus platforms, the transfer center is built in a simple manner as it is not a separate terminal building.^[3]

Station layout

KORAIL

AREX

↑ Terminus

Gongdeok ↓ / Incheon International Airport ↓

• Platform numbers are not assigned; instead, platforms are classified as "express" or "local"

Platform layout (AREX)

Seoul Metro

Platform layout (Seoul Metro)

History

The former Seoul Station, named "Namdaemun Station" started operating in a 33m² (10 pyeong) wooden building in July 1900 with the extension of the Gyeongin Line north of the Han River. The Gyeongbu Line opened in 1905, and the Gyeongui Line opened in 1921 – both lines connecting to the station. The construction of the current "Old Seoul Station" began on June 1, 1922, and was finished on September 30, 1925.^[4] In 1923, the station reverted to the name "Gyeongseong Station," when the name of the city of Seoul changed from Hanseong to Gyeongseong ("Keijo" in Japanese).

The station was renamed "Seoul Station" on November 1, 1947. The station was expanded throughout the post-Korean War era; the Southern Annex of Seoul station was completed on December 30, 1957, and the Western Annex was completed on February 14, 1969. In 1975, the Korea National Railroad's office moved from Seoul Station to the new West Annex Office. A raised walkway connecting the Seoul Station and the West Annex was completed on 1977, and Korea's first privately funded station was erected in 1988 in time for the Seoul Olympics. In 2004, a new terminal adjacent to the existing one was completed to coincide with the introduction of KTX high-speed rail service.^[4]

Old Seoul Station

Old Seoul Station

The Old Seoul Station (Hangul: 구서울역사; Hanja: 舊서울驛舍, literally meaning "Old Seoul station building"; 37°33′21″N 126°58′18″E / 37.5559°N 126.9716°E / 37.5559; 126.9716 (Old Seoul Station)), originally named Keijo (Gyeongseong) Station and designed by Tsukamoto Yasushi of Tokyo Imperial University, was finished on November 1925. This red brick building, designed in an eclectic style, features a Byzantine-style central dome and a centralized and symmetrical layout.^[5] The floor of the Central Hall on the ground floor was covered with granite and the walls were covered with man-made stone. The wooden floor inside the building's VIP Lounge was covered with birch wood and a western style restaurant was located on the 2nd floor.^[4]

On September 25, 1981, the old station was designated as Historic Site 284.^[4] A restoration project of the old station began on September 2007 to "transform the former Seoul Station, which had lost its functionality as a train station since the opening of the new KTX Station, into a premier national multidisciplinary cultural facility." On the same year, the management was transferred from the Cultural Heritage Administration to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. After the design for former Seoul Station's remodeling was developed in 2009, the remodeling construction began.^[6]

On August 9, 2011, the station was reopened as a culture complex with its original exterior, after a two-year of restoration project by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the state-run Korea Craft and Design Foundation (KCDF).^[7] On April 2, 2012, "Culture Seoul Station 284" was officially launched "as a space for diverse artistic and cultural creation and exchange." The official name, which combines the station's historic, spatial, and urban symbolisms, was selected through a national open call. By combining the notion of a cultural space with the old Seoul Station's historic site number 284, the name aims to embody the concepts of preserving its appearance and value as a historic site while simultaneously cultivating the meaning of the station as a place of various cultural intersections. The restored station is a 9,202m² building with two stories above ground and one story below ground level.^[6] The former station, before the renovation, has the main lobby, a waiting room, and a VIP room on the first floor, and a barber shop and restaurants on the second floor. Post-renovation, the first floor contains a venue for performances, exhibitions and events, and a multipurpose hall on the floor above.^[8]

General information

• Korail Seoul Station
  • Opening date : July 8, 1900
  • Operator : Korail
  • Address : 43–205, Dongja-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul (1 Namdaemunno)
  • Platforms : 14 + 1 Gyeongui Line Platform
• Seoul Metro Line 1 Seoul Station
  • Opening date : August 15, 1974
  • Operator : Seoul Metro
  • Address : Bongnaedong 2-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul
  • Platforms : 1, island
• Seoul Metro Line 4 Seoul Station
  • Opening date : October 18, 1985
  • Operator : Seoul Metro
  • Address : Dongja-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
  • Platforms : 1, island
• AREX Seoul Station
  • Opening date : December 29, 2010
  • Operator : Korail Airport Co.
  • Platforms: 2, island

Gallery

• 
  KTX in platform
• 
  Seoul station (photographed in 2012)
• 
  Starting Point of Korea Railroad
• 
  AREX Seoul Station Sign.

See also

• Transportation in South Korea
• Korail
• Korea Train Express

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seoul Station.

• (in Korean) Station information from Korail
• Seoul Station introduction (KTX Cyber Station)
• Seoul Station introduction (Incheon International Airport Railroad Homepage)