Seoul's Gangdong-gu said Thursday it held talks with Namyangju on ways to cooperate on shared transit priorities, including connecting Subway Line 3 to Dunchon-Oryun Station.
Gangdong-gu District Mayor Lee Su-hee visited Namyangju City Hall on Thursday to meet Mayor Choe Hyeon-deok. The two officials agreed on the need for close coordination between Gangdong-gu and Namyangju — the backbone of the eastern metropolitan area's 2.5 million residents — and confirmed their mutual commitment to resolving pressing transit issues together.
They found particular common ground on the need for cooperative action to connect the Songpa-Hanam Line, an extension of Seoul Subway Line 3, to Dunchon-Oryun Station, which would create a transfer hub between Lines 3 and 9.
The Songpa-Hanam Line is a metropolitan rail extension project that would link Ogeum Station in Songpa-gu, Seoul, to Hanam City Hall Station in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province. Planners are currently reviewing a proposal to connect Line 9's Dunchon-Oryun Station between Songpa-gu Stop 100 and Hanam Stop 101, establishing a Line 3–Line 9 transfer system.
If the Songpa-Hanam Line is linked to Dunchon-Oryun Station, riders from Gangdong, Hanam, Namyangju and surrounding areas — connected through the planned fourth and fifth phases of the Line 9 extension — would be able to transfer to Line 3 at Dunchon-Oryun. That would dramatically improve access to Suseo Station on Line 3, where passengers can connect to the GTX-A and SRT intercity rail services.
Residents of the Gami and Gyosan districts in Hanam would also be able to board Line 9 express trains at Dunchon-Oryun without traveling all the way to Express Bus Terminal Station. Travel times and access to major Line 9 stations, including Gimpo International Airport, would improve dramatically, raising transit convenience for the 2.5 million residents of the eastern Greater Seoul area spanning Gangdong, Namyangju, Songpa, Hanam and Guri.
At the meeting, Lee and Choe held in-depth discussions on transit priorities common to both areas — including the Line 3 connection to Dunchon-Oryun Station, accelerating construction of the Line 9 extension (the Gangdong-Hanam-Namyangju Line), and adding trains on Subway Line 8 (the Byeollae Line) to ease overcrowding — and agreed to continue cooperating toward mutual development.
"Mutual cooperation between Gangdong-gu and Namyangju, the backbone of Seoul's eastern metropolitan area, is more important than anything," Lee said. "We need to build a close coordination framework in transportation — including rail — which requires a long-term, broad-based approach."
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
