2012 is a big year for rail transport around the country, with several extensions and new lines to be opened, many towards the end of the year. One of the new lines which will open a little sooner is the Suin Line (수인선). The first part of the line will open on the 30th of June and runs from Oido (오이도) Station (Line 4) to Songdo (송도). Eventually the northern end will be extended to Incheon Station and the southern end to Suwon station. Incheon Metro Line 1 will also connect with the first section at Woninjae Station. It is estimated that the new line will serve approximately 150,000 passengers and trains will run more regularly on Incheon’s Line 1 to deal with the increased demand from transferring passengers.

Stations for phase one from Oido are, Dalweol (scheduled to open later), Weolgot, Soraepogu, Incheon Nonhyeon, Hogupo, Namdong Indus Park, Woninjae (Incheon line 1 transfer), Yeonsu, Sondo.

(오이도~달월(추후 개통)~월곶~소래포구~인천논현~호구포~남동인더스파크~원인재(인천1호선)~연수~송도)

The Suin Line was originally a bumpy narrow gauge line which opened in August 1937 and ran from Incheon Harbour to Suwon. The line was fully closed in December 1997 after the line became largely unused following independence from Japan. A lot of the line was removed but some traces still remain — one person going to the trouble of photgraphing the remnants which can be seen on the Wikipedia page. Below is an old video of citizens bumping up and down as they take a ride on the line before it closed.

Before the original line was even closed, investigation into building a new line began as early as 1990. Construction finally started on the first part of the line in 2004 and progressed in various stages across the Gyeonggido and Incheon areas. As mentioned above, the second stage will involve the top half of the line continuing up to Incheon Station (인천역) where it will meet Line 1. The third stage will extend the line to Suwon station where it will make a direct connection with the southern Bundang Line extension. There is currently much debate being had about how the line will operate once this connection is made as it effectively creates a semi-circle track from Incheon Station all the way to Wangshimni Station (왕십리역). One interesting thing to note is that the line will follow the same route as the Ansan Line (Line 4) from Oido to Hanyang Univ. before continuing on to Suwon.

Trial runs have been continuously taking place over the past few months, with 27 return trips operating per day to test the line before it opens. However, residents of Yeonsu-gu in Incheon are already complaining about the noise of the trains and asking KORAIL to carry out measures to reduce the noise. There has also been some controversy over the name of the line saying it should be named the “Insu” (인수) Line due to the fact that more of the stations are located in Incheon.

Links and Sources: FRDB | EMU Information (Ian Han) | KORAIL Research of Suin Line Operations | dongA News