Nowon-gu Mayor Oh Seung-rok held a completion ceremony Tuesday morning at a plaza in Wolgye-dong — between E-mart and the Gyeongchun Line railway tracks — to mark the extension of the Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail and the creation of the Nowon Gyeongchunmaru waterside café.
The newly completed extension stretches approximately 870 meters, linking Nokcheon Middle School in Wolgye-dong to a pedestrian overbridge at Gwangwoon University Station along a walking path built on idle railway land. The addition connects a previously severed section of the Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail through Gongreung-dong all the way to Hwarangdae, completing a continuous 6.8-kilometer green corridor.
Perched on the Gyeongchun Railway Bridge at the end of the new extension, Gyeongchunmaru — Nowon-gu's fourth waterside café, designed to evoke the shape of an actual train — is set to officially open July 15 and is expected to become a new landmark for Wolgye-dong.
The extension is also tied to the planned development of the Gwangwoon University Station transit-oriented area, a key future development axis for Nowon, and is expected to get ahead of growing demand for pedestrian access and park use that the project will bring.
About 450 people attended the event, including Mayor Oh, distinguished guests and local residents. The ceremony opened with a pre-event performance, followed by a first ribbon-cutting for the trail extension. Attendees then walked the newly laid path to Gyeongchunmaru, where a second completion ceremony, a tasting event and a facility tour rounded out the program.
"The Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail has grown into Nowon's signature green corridor — one that connects culture, leisure and the future," Oh said. "I hope it will continue to be a premium forest path where residents feel something new with every step they take."
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