Opening
ceremony and trial run on Gwanggyo-Jeongja section held on January 29

◇ On the afternoon of January 29, Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam
Kyung-pil gave a congratulatory address for the opening of the extended Sinbundang
Line (Jeongja-Gwanggyo) at Gwanggyo Jungang station in Suwon. ⓒ Gyeonggi Provincial Government

The extended section of the Sinbundang Line serving the Gwanggyo-Jeongja
section (13.8km) opened on January 30 after 60 months of construction work. The
new section has been praised by local residents since passengers can travel from
Gwanggyo in Suwon to Gangnam Station in Seoul in less than 40 minutes when the
extended line begins operations.  

At 2:30pm on January 29, Gyeonggi Province held an opening ceremony for
the extended Sinbundang Line at the new provincial government complex site in
front of Gwanggyo Jungang (Ajou University) Station. More than 500 attendees including
Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister
Kang Ho-in, Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young, and Ajou University President Kim
Dong-yeon as well as other special guests and residents participated in the
ceremony.  

In his welcoming address, Governor Nam Kyung-pil expressed his
expectations, saying, “The extended subway line will not only make
commuting more convenient, it will also make attending school more convenient
with better access to nearby universities. When the Sinbundang Line extends to
Homaesil and Yongsan, the impact will be even greater.” 

In his congratulatory address, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister
Kang Ho-in said, “The entire world is focusing its efforts on creating railway
infrastructure that reduces energy consumption and environmental pollution in
response to accelerating climate change.” Minister Kang added, “We will open the Sin-ansan Line and continue to
expand our metropolitan area railway network to ensure people don’t spend more than
30 minutes commuting by 2020.”  

Those expressing the greatest satisfaction at the opening ceremony were local
residents. The ribbon cutting ceremony to open the extended section was met
with a thunderous applause from local residents in attendance.  

Suwon resident Park Eun-ja (36, Yeongtong-gu) said, “Most people here
commute to and from Seoul, and I think traveling will become more convenient
with the shortened commute time.” Park added, “I think I’ll be using the Sinbundang Line a lot since it’s become much
easier to travel to nearby shopping malls.” 

After the ceremony, Governor Nam along with other special guests took the
subway for a trial run from Gwanggyo Jungang Station to Dongcheon Station.  

One interesting feature of the Sinbundang Line is the fact that the
trains are unmanned and instead driven by a cutting-edge automatic system. Not
only is this system better at ensuring that trains arrive on time, it is also
safer thanks to real-time decision making capabilities. Moreover, the trains
feature wide emergency exits in the front car, and there are no doors dividing
each car.  

Additionally, six new stations (Dongcheon, Suji-gu Office, Seongbok,
Sanghyeon, Gwanggyo Jungang, and Gwanggyo) opened on this day featured designs
symbolizing the name of each district to increase design efficiency.  

Ajou University President Kim Dong-yeon, who joined the trail run, could
hardly conceal his excitement for the extended section, saying, “I think it would be
a great idea to commute using the train to celebrate the extended line opening.”

When the Homaesil-Yongsan section opens, the Sinbundang
Line is expected to become a major transportation artery in the southern
metropolitan region. We look forward to Gyeonggi Province taking a great step forward
in providing a faster, safer and happier transportation service.  

◇ Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil and other dignitaries attending
the event walk onto a platform of Gwanggyo Jungang Station after the opening ceremony.
ⓒ Gyeonggi Provincial Government

ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News | Ha Soo-hyun
hyunie94@naver.com

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201601291748469461C048&s_code=C048