Ceremony marking completion of rail integration set for Friday at Seoul Station

Average daily high-speed rail ridership rose by 34,000, or 11.9 percent, year-on-year in the roughly one month since the rail integration took effect on Sept. 1. [Korail]
Average daily high-speed rail ridership rose by 34,000, or 11.9 percent, year-on-year in the roughly one month since the rail integration took effect on Sept. 1. [Korail]

Average daily high-speed rail ridership climbed by 34,000, or 11.9 percent year-on-year, in the roughly one month since South Korea's rail integration took effect. Ridership on the Suseo corridor jumped particularly sharply, surging 27.8 percent.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Thursday that the expansion of high-speed rail seats and service frequency following the Sept. 1 integration drove the increase in average daily ridership through Sept. 27, and that the number of seats supplied during the Chuseok holiday period rose 8.8 percent from a year earlier.

Average daily commuter and student ridership using rail passes grew 25.2 percent, and membership in the newly launched Korail+ integrated app has reached about 20 million users.

With 23 additional weekday services and 26 additional weekend services added, average headways on lines that previously had long intervals — including the Jeolla, Donghae and Gyeongjeon lines — were cut by an average of four minutes. New routes via Seo-Daejeon and Gupo stations have also broadened travel options between regions.

A roughly 10 percent fare cut on high-speed rail and the introduction of a mileage program for KTX services departing from Suseo, among other changes made at the time of integration, reduced the public's transportation costs by about 22.8 billion won ($16.8 million) over September alone. Annualized, that figure is estimated to reach about 280 billion won.

The extension of transfer discounts between high-speed and conventional rail to all high-speed train services pushed average daily transfer ridership up 64.9 percent year-on-year. The ministry said an additional 3,700 or so passengers per day are now benefiting from transfer discounts.

Three integrated subsidiaries launched on Sept. 23 are consolidating overlapping functions previously spread across five companies and raising specialized expertise by sector to improve overall rail service quality and strengthen safety, the ministry said. The subsidiaries have been reorganized into a customer service arm tentatively named Korail Tourism Networks, a retail and logistics company tentatively named Korail Distribution and Logistics, and a maintenance unit called Korail Tech.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) will hold an event at Seoul Station on Friday to mark the completion of the 2026 rail integration era, share key achievements and present "One Rail, Transforming Everyday Life" as the future vision for the nation's railways.

Minister Hong Ji-seon said the integration of high-speed rail and its subsidiaries was "a meaningful achievement that fulfills a promise to the public as a core task of the people's sovereignty government," adding that the ministry would "do its utmost to build a safe and convenient travel environment that people can feel in their daily lives, drawing on the strength of a unified, integrated railway in line with that future vision."


smh@heraldcorp.com