Gyeongbu Line

Sindong Jicheon

Geumho

River

North Gyeongsang

Daegu

Expressway No.451

Jungbu Naeryuk Expy. Branch

323.1

Daegu East Daegu Gomo Gacheon Gyeongsan Samseong Namseonghyeon Cheongdo Singeo Yucheon Sangdong Daeseong Samnangjin Wondong Mulgeum Yangsan Cargo Terminal Hwamyeong Gupo Sasang Beomil Busanjin Busan

Gyeongbu Line
Hangul	경부선
Hanja	京釜線
Revised Romanization	Gyeongbuseon
McCune–Reischauer	Kyŏngbusŏn

The Gyeongbu line (Gyeongbuseon) is a

. It is by far the most heavily travelled rail line in South Korea.

All types of high-speed, express, local, and freight trains provide frequent service along its entire length.

In 1894–1895, the

Japan also sought to gain control of the Keigi Railway project that was to continue tracks further north, recognizing the trunk route as a means to keep Korea under its influence.^[1] After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan ignored Korea's declaration of neutrality and transported troops to Incheon. Japan also forced the Korean government to sign an agreement that ceded its control of the railway. Japanese military bases were established in connection with the railway, the biggest of them next to Ryūzan Station in Keijō.^[1]

The Gyeongbu line was publicly inaugurated on January 1, 1905 as the Keibu Railway (京釜鐵道, Keibu tetsudō).^[2][3] The first trains travelled the line in 17 hours 4 minutes.^[4] By April 1906, travel time was reduced to 11 hours,^[4] while top speed was 60 km/h (37 mph).^[5] The line developed into the backbone of transport in Korea under Japanese rule. Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, from April 1, 1933, the line was traversed by direct trains from Busan to Andong (today Dandong) across the border.^[6] From December 1, 1936, the Akatsuki luxury express trains ran on the line with a maximum speed of 90 km/h (56 mph), and achieved the shortest pre-war travel time of 6 hours 30 minutes^[4] in the timetable valid from November 1, 1940.^[7]

Travel times increased greatly while the line was used for transport in

From the 1960s, road construction began to make road transport more attractive and faster. Although top speed rose to 110 km/h (68 mph) and the Seoul–Busan travel time along the Gyeongbu Line was reduced to 4 hours 50 minutes by June 10, 1969,

Upgrade

The Gyeongbu Line was extensively upgraded in parallel with the development of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway urban rapid transit system and the Korea Train Express (KTX) high-speed rail system from the 1970s.

The Gyeongbu Line is six-tracked from Seoul to Guro, four-tracked from Guro to Cheonan,^[11] and double-tracked from Cheonan all the way to Busan. The entire line is electrified.^[11]

The

Following the

Plans foresaw the development of the Gyeongbu Line into a high-capacity freight corridor after the completion of the second phase of the Gyeongbu HSR.[14] At the time of the opening of the Daegu–Busan section of the high-speed line on November 1, 2010, capacity available for freight trains on the conventional line was expected to increase by a factor of 7.7, while the capacity for passenger transport in the entire corridor increased by a factor of 3.4.^[15]

The line was electrified in stages from 1974 to 2006:^[11]

Section	Length	Start of electric operation	Notes
Seoul–Suwon	41.5 km	August 15, 1974	Integration into Seoul Subway Line 1
Yeongdeungpo–Suwon	32.3 km	December 23, 1981	Second pair of tracks
Yongsan–Guro	8.5 km	December 30, 1996	Third pair of tracks
Suwon–Byeongjeom	7.2 km	April 30, 2003	Four tracks; extension of Seoul Subway Line 1
Byeongjeom–Cheonan	48.4 km	January 20, 2005	Four tracks
Cheonan–Jochiwon	32.7 km	March 30, 2005
Jochiwon–Daejeonjochajang	34.9 km	July 1, 2005
Daejeonjochajang–Daejeon–Okcheon	20.7 km	April 1, 2004	For KTX trains
Okcheon–Sangdong	125.3 km	Dec 8, 2006
Sangdong–Daegu–Busan	132.8 km	April 1, 2004	For KTX trains

For KTX trains and new electric locomotives, top speed was also raised to up to 150 km/h.^[11][16]

The Gyeongbu Line is the major route out of

also operate along sections of the Gyeongbu Line.

On the section between Seoul Station,

provides frequent commuter services.

The Gyeongbu Line is served along its entire length by frequent intercity

KTX

Main article:

Gyeongbu High Speed Railway

Korail launched KTX high-speed services with the opening of the first phase of the Gyeongbu HSR on April 1, 2004.[9] The Seoul–Busan travel distance was shortened to 408.5 km, the shortest travel time was 2 hours 40 minutes.^[9]

All KTX services use the conventional Gyeongbu Line between Seoul and the start of the Siheung Interconnection at a junction after

From its opening, the Gyeongbu KTX service also returned to the Gyeongbu Line for two short sections crossing Daejeon and Daegu, where local disputes about the high-speed line alignment across urban areas held up construction;

The section between Daegu and Samnangjin, the junction with the Gyeongjeon Line, is also used by the Gyeongjeon KTX services, which connect Seoul to Masan on the Gyeongjeon Line since December 15, 2010,^[23] and will be extended to Jinju by 2012.^[24] Stops along the Gyeongbu Line will be at Dongdaegu and Miryang.

Between Seoul and Cheonan, the Mugunghwa and Saemaul express trains on the Gyeongbu Line gave rail around a fifth of the modal share before the launch of KTX services. Due to the short distance and the location of the KTX station outside the city, the conventional line could retain most of its passengers, and the increase in the total modal share of rail was modest.^[9] On the medium-distance relation from Seoul to Daejeon, KTX gained market share mostly at the expense of normal express services on the Gyeongbu Line, which decreased by half in the first year, while the total share of rail increased to a third.^[9] On the long-distance relations from Seoul to Daegu and Busan, the total share of rail increased from around two-fifths to a market dominating three-fifths, with the bulk of that traffic taken by the KTX. For intercity passenger traffic on the conventional Gyeongbu Line, that translates to a sharp drop on the Daejeon-Daegu section (bypassed by KTX trains) and a sharp increase on the Daegu-Busan section.^[9]

Railway modal share in intercity traffic^[9]

Seoul to...	Cheonan			Daejeon			Daegu			Busan
Period	Total	Without KTX		Total	Without KTX		Total	Without KTX		Total	Without KTX
2003/4	21.1%	21.1%		27.5%	27.5%		40.5%	40.5%		38.0%	38.0%
2004/5	24.2%	19.2%		33.9%	14.0%		63.6%	11.4%		60.9%	10.6%

●	Stops at the station
｜	Does not stop at the station
○	Limited service(Line 1), Some train stops(Long Distance)

Station	Hangul	Hanja	Seoul Subway Line 1		Long Distance Services			Connecting lines and services	Station distance	Line distance	Location
			L	R		ITX	Mugungwha		km
Seoul	서울		●	●	●	●	●	Gyeongbu HSR Seoul Subway Line 4 AREX	-	0.0	Seoul	Jung-gu
Namyeong	남영	南營	●	●	｜	｜	｜	-	1.7			Yongsan-gu
Yongsan	용산	龍山	●	●	● [note 1]	●	●	Gyeongwon Line () Yongsan Line Honam Line Honam KTX	1.5	3.2
Noryangjin	노량진	鷺梁津	●	●	｜	｜	｜	Seoul Subway Line 9	2.6	5.8		Dongjak-gu
Daebang (Sungae Hospital)	대방 (성애병원)	大方	●	●	｜	｜	｜	-	1.5	7.3		Yeongdeungpo-gu
Singil	신길	新吉	●	●	｜	｜	｜	Seoul Subway Line 5	0.8	8.1
Yeongdeungpo	영등포	永登浦	●	●	○ [note 2]	●	●	Gyeongbu HSR	1.0	9.1
Sindorim	신도림	新道林	●	●	｜	｜	｜	Seoul Subway Line 2 Sinjeong Branch (Seoul Subway Line 2)	1.5	10.6		Guro-gu
Guro	구로	九老	●	●	｜	｜	｜	Gyeongin Line (Seoul Subway Line 1)	1.1	11.7
Gasan Digital Complex (Mario Outlet)	가산디지털단지 (마리오아울렛)	加山디지털團地	●	●	｜	｜	｜	Seoul Subway Line 7	2.4	14.1		Geumcheon-gu
Doksan	독산	禿山	●	｜	｜	｜	｜	-	2.0	16.1
Geumcheon-gu Office	금천구청	衿川區廳	●	○	｜	｜	｜	Gwangmyeong Line (Seoul Subway Line 1)	1.2	17.3
Seoksu	석수	石水	●	｜	｜	｜	｜	-	2.3	19.6	Gyeonggi-do	Anyang
Gwanak	관악	冠岳	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		1.9	21.5
Anyang	안양	安養	●	●	｜	｜	○		2.4	23.9
Myeonghak (Sungkyul Univ.)	명학 (성결대앞교)	鳴鶴	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		2.2	26.1
Geumjeong	금정	衿井	●	●	｜	｜	｜	Gwacheon Line (Seoul Subway Line 4) Ansan Line (Seoul Subway Line 4)	1.4	27.5		Gunpo
Gunpo	군포	軍浦	●	｜	｜	｜	｜	-	2.2	29.7
Dangjeong (Hansei Univ.)	당정 (한세대)	堂井	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		1.6	31.3
Uiwang (Korea Nat'l Univ. of Transportation)	의왕 (한국교통대학교)	義王	●	○	｜	｜	｜	Seoul Subway Line 1 Nambu Hwamulgiji Line	4.2	33.9		Uiwang
Sungkyunkwan Univ.	성균관대	成均館大	●	●	｜	｜	｜	-	2.9	36.8		Suwon
Hwaseo	화서	華西	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		2.6	39.4
Suwon	수원	水原	●	●	○ [note 2]	●	●	Suin-Bundang Line	2.1	41.5
Seryu	세류	細柳	●	｜	｜	｜	｜	-	2.9	44.4
Byeongjeom (Hanshin Univ.)	병점 (한신대)	餅店	●	●	｜	｜	｜	Byeongjeomgiji Line (Seoul Subway Line 1)	4.3	48.7		Hwaseong
Sema	세마	洗馬	●	｜	｜	｜	｜	-	2.4	51.1		Osan
Osan Univ.	오산대	烏山大	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		2.7	53.8
Osan	오산	烏山	●	●	｜	｜	○		2.7	56.5
Jinwi	진위	振威	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		4.0	60.5		Pyeongtaek
Songtan	송탄	松炭	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		3.8	64.3
Seojeongni (Kookje College)	서정리 (국제대학)	西井里	●	●	｜	｜	○		2.2	66.5
PyeongtaekJije (Korea Nat'l Univ. of Welfare)	평택지제 (한국복지대학)	平澤芝制	●	｜	｜	｜	｜	Suseo-Pyeongtaek HSR	4.8	71.3
Pyeongtaek	평택	平澤	●	●	｜	○	●	Pyeongtaek Line	3.7	75.0
Seonghwan (Namseoul Univ.)	성환 (남서울대)	成歡	●	●	｜	｜	○	-	9.4	84.4	Chungcheongnam-do	Cheonan
Jiksan	직산	稷山	●	｜	｜	｜	｜		5.4	89.8
Dujeong	두정	斗井	●	●	｜	｜	｜		3.8	93.6
Cheonan	천안	天安	●	●	｜	●	●	Janghang Line Anseong Line (Closed)	3.0	96.6
Sojeong-ri	소정리	小井里	No Seoul Subway Line 1 Service		｜	｜	｜	-	10.8	107.4	Sejong City
Jeonui	전의	全義			｜	｜	○		7.5	114.9
Jeondong	전동	全東			｜	｜	｜		7.7	122.6
Seochang	서창	瑞倉			｜	｜	｜	Osong Line	3.5	126.1
Jochiwon	조치원	鳥致院			｜	○	●	Chungbuk Line	3.2	129.3
Naepan	내판	內板			｜	｜	｜	-	5.6	134.9
Bugang	부강	芙江			｜	｜	○		4.9	139.8
Maepo	매포	梅浦			｜	｜	｜		4.6	144.4
Sintanjin	신탄진	新灘津			｜	○	○		7.5	151.9	Daejeon	Daedeok-gu
Hoedeok	회덕	懷德			｜	｜	｜		5.6	157.5
Daejeonjochajang	대전조차장	大田操車場			｜	｜	｜	Honam Line	4.1	161.6
Daejeon	대전	大田			●	●	●	Daejeon Subway Line 1	4.7	166.3		Dong-gu
Secheon	세천	細川			｜	｜	｜	-	7.6	173.6
Jeungyak (Closed)	증약	增若			｜	｜	｜		-		Chungcheongbuk-do	Okcheon-gun
Okcheon	옥천	沃川			｜	○	○		8.0	182.5
Gapung (Closed)	가풍	加豊			｜	｜	｜		-
Iwon	이원	伊院			｜	｜	○		8.3	190.8
Jitan	지탄	池灘			｜	｜	○		5.6	196.4
Simcheon	심천	深川			｜	｜	○		4.4	200.8		Yeongdong-gun
Gakgye	각계	覺溪			｜	｜	○		3.8	204.6
Yeongdong	영동	永同			｜	○	●		7.0	211.6
Mireuk (Closed)	미륵	彌勒			｜	｜	｜		-
Hwanggan	황간	黃澗			｜	｜	○		14.6	226.2
Chupungnyeong	추풍령	秋風嶺			｜	｜	○		8.5	234.7
Sinam	신암	新岩			｜	｜	｜		6.0	240.7	Gyeongsangbuk-do	Gimcheon
Jikjisa	직지사	直指寺			｜	｜	｜		5.5	246.2
Gimcheon	김천	金泉			｜	●	●	Gyeongbuk Line	7.6	253.8
Daesin	대신	大新			｜	｜	｜	-	9.7	263.5
Apo	아포	牙浦			｜	｜	｜		5.7	269.2
Gumi	구미	龜尾			｜	●	●		7.5	276.7		Gumi
Sagok	사곡	沙谷			｜	｜	｜		4.6	281.3
Yangmok	약목	若木			｜	｜	○		8.2	289.5		Chilgok-gun
Waegwan	왜관	倭館			｜	○	●		6.5	296.0
Yeonhwa	연화	蓮花			｜	｜	｜		6.2	302.2
Sindong	신동	新洞			｜	｜	｜		3.7	305.9
Jicheon	지천	枝川			｜	｜	｜		7.4	313.3
Seodaegu	서대구	西大邱			○ [note 3]	｜	｜		5.6	318.9	Daegu	Seo-gu
Daegu	대구	大邱			｜	●	●	Daegu Subway Line 1	4.2	323.1		Buk-gu
Dongdaegu	동대구	東大邱			●	●	●	Daegu Subway Line 1	3.2	326.3		Dong-gu
Gomo	고모	顧母			｜	｜	｜	-	5.5	331.8		Suseong-gu
Gacheon	가천	佳川			｜	｜	｜	Daegu Line	1.6	333.4
Gyeongsan	경산	慶山			○	○	●	-	5.2	338.6	Gyeongsangbuk-do	Gyeongsan
Samseong	삼성	三省			｜	｜	｜		7.1	345.7
Namseonghyeon	남성현	南省峴			｜	｜	○		7.4	353.1		Cheongdo-gun
Cheongdo	청도	淸道			｜	○	●		8.7	361.8
Singeo	신거	新巨			｜	｜	｜		5.6	367.4
Sangdong	상동	上東			｜	｜	○		4.8	372.2	Gyeongsangnam-do	Miryang
Miryang	밀양	密陽			○	○	●	Gyeongbu HSR	9.4	381.6
Muwol (Closed)	무월	無月			｜	｜	｜	-	-
Mijeon	미전	美田			｜	｜	｜	Mijeon Line	11.0	392.6
Samnangjin	삼량진	三浪津			｜	○	○	Gyeongjeon Line	1.5	394.1
Wondong	원동	院洞			｜	｜	○	-	9.1	403.2		Yangsan
Mulgeum	물금	勿禁			｜	○	○		9.2	412.4
Hwamyeong	화명	華明			｜	｜	○	Busan Subway Line 2	9.4	421.8	Busan	Buk-gu
Gupo	구포	龜浦			○	●	●	Busan Subway Line 3	3.4	425.2
Sasang	사상	沙上			｜	｜	○	Busan Subway Line 2	5.1	430.3		Sasang-gu
Busanjin	부산진	釜山鎭			｜	｜	｜	Busan Subway Line 1	9.6	439.9		Busanjin-gu
Busan	부산	釜山			●	●	●	Busan Subway Line 1	1.8	441.7		Dong-gu

See also

• Korail

References

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    ‍]
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