The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has completed the 5.9 km-long Asan Overpass, the country's longest and largest arch bridge at 625 m long and 44 m high, that connects Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do Province, and Asan, Chungcheongnam-do Province. (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

By Kim Hyelin

Three rail lines will be simultaneously opened on Nov. 2: Seohae (Hongseong-Seohwaseong stations), Janghang (Sinchang-Hongseong) and Poseung-Pyeongtaek (Anjung-Pyeongtaek). 

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Nov. 1 said it held an opening ceremony at Hongseong Station in Hongseong-gun County, Chungcheongnam-do Province, for the launch of the three rail lines on the western coast, adding that operations in all three will commence the next day.

The Seohae (West Coast) Line (90 km) connects Hongseong Station in Chungcheongnam-do and Seohwaseong Station in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do Province, passing through major municipalities on the western coast like Dangjin, Hongseong-gun, Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong and Ansan. The ITX-Maum train will go on eight roundtrips per day between both stations with a travel time of about one hour. 

The project cost was KRW 4.12 trillion.

The Janghang Line, which connects Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, and Iksan, Jeollabuk-do Province, will be opened with a double-track electrification of the Sinchang (Asan)-Hongseong section (36.35 km), the country's second double-track electrification since that on the Cheonan-Sinchang section in 2008.

In addition to the Mugunghwa and Saemaeul trains, ITX-Maum will run twice a day to raise the number of trips between Yongsan (Seoul) and Hongseong stations to 30.

The Poseung-Pyeongtaek Line will handle the surging cargo volume at the Port of Pyeongtaek and its background logistics complex. With the just-completed second section of Anjung-Sukseong (9.4 km) following the 2015 opening of the first-stage portion of Sukseong-Pyeongtaek (13.4 km), the line's entire 22.8 km length including the non-electrified first-stage section has been electrified.

ITX-Maum, which connects the Pyeongtaek, Seohae and Janghang lines, will also run six times a day on the Hongseong-Cheonan-Pyeongtaek-Anjung station loop. The ministry said it expects this to connect northwestern Chungcheongnam-do and southern Gyeonggi-do into one residential area and stimulate tourism there.

Map of Seohae, Janghang and Poseung-Pyeongtaek lines