Korail pulls plug on airport KTX service
The Korea Railroad Corporation, or Korail, is ending its Korea Express Train (KTX) service from
Incheon International Airport to Seoul Station on Sept. 1. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and
Transport on Monday approved a request submitted in June by the country’s express train operator.
Korail is ending the service because so few people used it. “The company decided to modify the KTX route
in order to remedy the inefficiency caused by simultaneously operating the KTX and the Arex [Airport Railroad
Express Train],” said an official from the national railroad company. In fact, the KTX airport service has been
suspended since the end of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games for maintenance. The number of people
using the service was high when it first began in 2014 but has fallen tremendously, according to Korail. More
people are taking the Arex, which travels the same 63-kilometer (39 miles) route more frequently. The Arex is
also cheaper than the KTX and takes the same 40 to 45 minutes. A ticket on the Arex is 9,000 won ($8) compared
to the KTX’s 12,500 won. KTX trains traveling between the airport and Seoul Station have been over 70 percent
empty for the past couple of years, according to Korail. Last year, an average of about 3,000 passengers took
the trains per day. But more than 200,000 passengers have been taking the Arex daily in recent years and the
number of trips Arex trains make has been limited to 350 a day because it shares tracks on some parts of the
route with KTX trains.
If the KTX stops using those tracks, Arex trains could make more than 400 trips per day. Seoul residents are
unlikely to miss the KTX service, but its ending may cause inconvenience for travelers living outside of Seoul,
especially in the southern parts of the country. KTX trains from Incheon Airport traveled to other parts of the
country after a brief stop at Seoul Station, directly connecting major cities in the south such as Busan, Gwangju
and Daegu. Korail promised that airport limousine buses between the airport and Gwangmyeong Station in
Gyeonggi, a KTX hub. The Transport Ministry, Korail and the Airport Railroad Corporation, the operator of the
Arex service, will discuss how to increase the number of Arex trains on the route. The decision is already
causing headaches for organizers of the Fina World Championship scheduled for July 25 to Aug. 10 in 2019 in
Gwangju, South Jeolla, during which 15,000 athletes and officials from some 200 countries are expected to
visit the city along with visitors. In 2017, about 500,000 people visited Budapest, Hungary, for the championship.
The city government and the organizing committee are reportedly considering mobilizing as many as some
250 buses during the competition. The government operated direct KTX trains from Incheon to Pyeongchang
County in Gangwon during the Winter Olympics earlier this year.