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  • General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.
General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.

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 #1325385  by lpetrich
 
Korean president inaugurates KTX Honam | International Railway Journal
Korea Train Express - Wikipedia

From the IRJ,
PRESIDENT Park Geun-hye of Korea along with 1200 invited guests and members of the public attended a ceremony at Songjeong station in Gwangju on April 1 to mark the opening of the new 182.3km high-speed line from Osong to Gwangju. New KTX Honam services from Seoul to Mokpo will begin using the line on April 2.
The existing Korean HSR line, the Gyeongbu Line, runs from Seoul in the NW to Busan (Pusan) in the SE. Seoul - Daegu (Taegu) was done in 2004 and Daegu - Busan in 2010, all except for lines through cities Daejeon and Daegu. Those lines total 40.9 km (25.4 mi), out of 417.5 km (259.4 mi).

The new line runs from Osong near the midpoint of the Seoul - Busan line about 182.25 km (113.25 mi) to Gwangju (Kwangju) in the SW. It should be done out to Mokpo, further SW, in 2017, making its total length 230.99 km (143.53 mi).

Some existing lines have been upgraded, with electrification and double-tracking, and some more high-speed lines are under construction, like one between Wonju, in N Central S Korea and Gangneung, on the NE coast. This should make most of South Korea near some high-speed line.

Rail transport in North Korea - Wikipedia -- an active railroad system, but no high-speed trains.