HYUNDAI Rotem has unveiled the EMU-320, Korea’s fastest high-speed train able to run at a maximum speed of 320km/h.

The event held at the company’s Changwon plant on September 27 to unveil the train was attended by the governor of Gyeongsangnam-do, Mr Park Wan-su; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport representative, Mr Min-tae Kim; and president of Hyundai Rotem, Mr Lee Yong-bae.

The company says that following a test run, the new train, will be put into operation on the Gyeongbu and Honam high-speed lines alongside the current KTX-1 and KTX-Sancheon types Hyundai Rotem added that the new train’s distributed traction system makes it superior to those other trains in the areas of acceleration and deceleration performance as well as passenger capacity.

The distributed power system is already used on the Hyundai Rotem-built KTX-Ieum, or Korail class 150000, 260km/h high-speed EMUs used on the Jungang, Gangneung, Yeongdong and Jungbu Naeryuk lines.

“In the domestic railway environment, with many curved sections and short distances between stations, the distributed power system is more efficient,”says Hyundai Rotem, which adds that the system is also favoured by other high-speed operators around the world.

At the unveiling ceremony it was announced that the first batch of EMU-320 trains had already been shipped to Korean rail operator Korail, and delivery of a second batch is expected in November.