KOREAN president, Mr Yoon Suk Yeol, revealed the name for the country’s newest high-speed train, KTX-Cheongryong, during a ceremony held on April 1 to celebrate 20 years since the launch of the first high-speed KTX service.
The KTX-Cheongryong will enter service on the Honam Line between Seoul and Gwangju in South Jeolla province in May. With a maximum speed of 320km/h, the KTX-Cheongryong will be Korea’s fastest train in service. It is also the first Korean-built 300km/h train to feature distributed traction, matching the 260km/h KTX-Eum class 150000 fleet used on the Jungang, Gangneung, Yeongdong and Jungbu Naeryuk lines.
The new train will offer improved acceleration and deceleration, as well as greater onboard capacity compared with KTX-1 and KTX-Sancheon trains that it will complement on the Honam Line.
The name Cheongryong was selected through public consultation and means “a blue dragon soaring vigorously to bring hope to the people” and matches the current Year of the Blue Dragon according to the Korean zodiac.
Also known as the EMU-320 or Korail class 160000, the new trains were built by Hyundai Rotem and originally unveiled in September 2022.
Yoon also confirmed that the number of express services making just one or two intermediate stops will increase following the introduction of the new fleet, reducing the Seoul - Busan journey time to 2h 10min and Yongsan - Gwangju to 1h 30min. There are currently four daily express services planned for the Gyeongbu Line and two for the Honam Line.
Two-hour living zone
During the ceremony, Yoon reiterated his administration’s intention to expand the high-speed and wider railway network to offer a nationwide “two-hour living zone” around major cities. He confirmed that the high-speed line currently under construction between Incheon and Suwon, which will enable through high-speed services from Incheon to Busan and Mokpo, will be completed during his current five-year term which ends in 2027.
Other projects that are set to be completed this year include the Pohang - Samcheok extension of the Donghae Line, the 90km Hongseong - Songan extension of the Seohae Line, and the final high-speed section of the Jungang Line from Andong to Yeongcheon.
The second phase of the Honam high-speed line from Gwangju to Mokpo and a high-speed line from Chuncheon to Sokcho are also planned to open by 2027.
Yoon also oversaw a ceremony earlier this week to open GTX-A, the first line of a new network of express commuter lines serving Seoul.
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