Don’t get excited yet – this is a long way off and will still be in the planning stage for a very long time even if it does go ahead. Though I tend not to write about plans that are far off and uncertain, Line 2 express trains are something that people have talked about and longed for probably since it opened.

As many of us know, Line 2 is the busiest subway line in Seoul and is used by more than 2 million people a day. During the busiest times trains can reach 200% capacity and there are many who avoid the line during peak times if they can due to its reputation.

At the end of last year, Seoul City announced that it planned to build a deep underground express line which would follow the same route as the southern part of Seoul Metro’s Line 2 . It announced that it would build the express line from 2022 to 2027 and is planning other similar deep underground lines.

The express line is to follow the same route as Line 2’s southern section from Sillim (신림) through to Jamsil (잠실). The entire line is expected to be longer than this section of Line 2 and extend all the way from Dangarae (당아래) in Bucheon, stopping at Oryu (오류) on the west edge of Seoul, then at designated stops along the Line 2 route including Gangnam and Seoulleung before ending at Jamsil.

Having had to commute from western Seoul to Gangnam myself which included the epic transfer at Sindorim Station every morning, it is definitely one of the major pressure points during peak times. While the Line 7 extension may have relieved some of this, an express line along this route with minimal stops will definitely help the large number of passengers that work and get off in Gangnam/Seolleung area.

Similar “deep rail” projects that are already underway are the GTX lines which will be built 40m underground and connect Seoul with Gyeonggido at speeds of 100km/h, 2-3 times faster than normal subway speeds. These are exciting projects which I’ll be covering here in the future.

Source: MBN