Korean high speed rail

I just had the pleasure of riding the KTX from Seoul to Daegu. This is the same equipment as the TGV in France. This train rides on a dedicated track that includes some long bridges and tunnels. We often cruised at 255 Kph and hit 300 a few times (speed was shown on a ceiling-mounted monitor that was also showing news/ads- I think the speed came from GPS since it was not always displayed and disappeared in tunnels). I didn’t sense my ears getting blasted as badly as in France in tunnels or when another train passed (could be a perception). There were a few grade crossings in the cities near the stations (electric gate and guard). I was told that much of Korea’s passenger service is electrified; I did see a diesel pax train and a diesel freight pass through Daegu station.

Not sure of the mileage. The trip lasted about 1H40M each way, and was on schedule. The train made 2-3 stops while I was onboard. Our reserved seats (I think first class) were about $50 each way. The seats were comfortable. I did not stray from my seat and did not see what was on the food trolley that came through a few times.

Before this train there were several KAL and Asiana flights between Seoul and Taegu. They are down to two per day since the train is so convenient.

I was impressed by the Korean rail system.

Thanks , sounds like a great service .

An hour and 40 minutes for $50? I'm assuming USD, but regardless, that's a good price, I think. It's rough math, but I usually think of the bullet train here in Japan as about 100 yen a minute (about 85 US cents a minute [more rough math]).

Let's see...

Nagoya to Tokyo, 366km, takes 105 minutes and costs 10,070 yen. That's 95.9 yen per minute and 27.5 yen per kilometer.

Hakata to Tokyo, 1174.9km, takes 308 minutes and costs 21,210 yen. That's 68.9 yen per minute, and 18 yen per kilometer.

Finally, a short run like Kyoto to Shin-Osaka, 39km, is 1380 yen and takes 24 minutes. That's 57 yen per minute, or 35.4 yen per kilometer.

So, my guess of 100 yen per minute was... totally off. Oh well, I wasn't a math major. I've heard that the cost of living in Korea is much lower, so I guess it makes sense...

Not surprising really , as Japan is a veery expensive country to travel in .

Went to Korea again this month. This time we made our return trip from Taegu to Seoul with an overnight in Taejon. There did not seem to be an extra charge for the overnight stop.

They were replacing ties at the Taejon station while we were waiting for the train. Not an easy process as they were doing it all by hand (including transporting the tie from a pile to the site in which it was being placed.). The workers had a one-wheeled cart that fit on the track. It only took about four of them to wheel the tie to where it needed to be.

They were digging the ballast out and apparently sliding the new tie in under the track. Not sure how much support the new tie is given once the ballast is shoveled back underneath it.

This work was being performed by a crew of about eight. They were doing this on a fairly active track. We were allowed on the platform about ten minutes before our train’s scheduled arrival and a local came through as we were going down the stairs. I guess the crews get good at placing the ties (and themselves) as trains roll by.

Our train was about *four* minutes late after its three hour trip from Busan, the delay was noted on the board inside the station.