Transportation revolution : the Korean high-speed railway
2005; Issue: 40 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1342-7512
Autores Tópico(s)Aviation Industry Analysis and Trends
ResumoThe background to the high-speed railway initiative in Korea goes back to the 1980s when the country was suffering from serious road congestion caused by a surge in car ownership (17% average annual increase). Significant congestion in the Seoul–Busan corridor led to increased logistics costs and weakened industrial competitiveness. Korea already has a higher proportion of logistics costs to GDP (13.3%) than other advanced countries, creating an urgent necessity to relieve the bottleneck on the Seoul–Busan rail corridor, which contains 73% of the national population and carried 66% of the 7.3 million people riding railways in Korea each day in 1995. In May 1989, the government took the important decision to construct the G y e o n g b u h i g h s p e e d r a i l w a y, estimating that passenger and container freight traffic on the new line would increase 1.7 and 3.8 fold by 2011 compared to 1995. In comparison to a 4-lane motorway or conventional double-track railway, a highspeed railway is most efficient for meeting the needs of long-distance, mass transport. In terms of transport efficiency, such as operation hours, construction costs, and line capacity, a high-speed railway is two or three times better than a motorway or conventional double-track railway. T h e p r o j e c t w a s l a u n c h e d b y constructing a test track between Cheonan and Daejeon in 1992. However, the economic crisis of 1997 forced the government to change its plan by constructing a new line between Seoul and Busan using electrified and upgraded conventional lines between Daegu and Busan by 2004. This is to be followed by construction of an entirely new line between Daegu, Gyeongju, and Busan by 2010. Instead of building new tracks along the entire line, the amended plan adopted phased construction to make best use of the existing Daegu–Gyeongju– Busan tracks. To maximize the impact of the Gyeongbu high-speed Line construction, the government decided to electrify the main Honam Line (Daejeon–Mokpo) with the two Gyeongbu and Honam main lines to be linked as a new system offering high-speed Korean Train Express (KTX) services (Fig.1). The government looked at many possible funding sources for the project based on its potential benefits and prevailing financial circumstances. The total cost of the Gyeongbu high-speed line was estimated to be about Won18.4258 trillion (US$1 = Won1,162) with some Won12.7377 trillion needed for the first phase. Funds were raised from the government budget (45% and including loans of 10% of the total) and from the budget of the Korea High Speed Rail Construction Authority (KHRC) (credits: 29%; foreign loans: 24%; private funding: 2%). The difficult economic circumstances in Korea at the time required a number of measures to acquire foreign loans. Funding for electrification of the Honam Line was provided entirely by the government. To hold overall costs to reasonable levels, contracts were made with overseas contractors to provide only core rail systems, such as rolling stock, catenaries, train-control systems (ATC, CTC, SCADA). Other non-core systems such as civilengineering works, power supplies, tracks, and information systems were handled by Korean companies. Thirty-four of the 46 TGV-style KTX highspeed train sets were built domestically in Korea based on a technology transfer from SNCF while the other 12 were built in France. Each of the 388-m trains has 20 carriages, including two motorcars, two powered passenger carriages, and 16 passenger cars. Each train has 935 seats, including 127 in first class (three seats per row) and 808 in economy (four seats per row). Operations safety is assured by an onboard computer system (OBCS), firedetector system, and automatic sensors to detect any malfunctions. The KTX stations have been designed as futuristic multi-purpose hubs to cater to customers’ needs. KTX trains normally stop at Seoul, Gwangmyeong, CheonanAsan, Daejeon, Daegu, and Busan, on the Gyeongbu Line, and also stop at Yongsan, SeoDaejeon, Iksan, Songjongri, Gwangju, and Mokpo on the Honam Line. Seoul Station is a five-storey state-of-the-art building, with two floors underground; Yongsan Station is eight-storeys high with Figure 1 KTX Route
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