ESTIMATEDDate confidence: ESTIMATEDA target, not a fixed dateHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all ESTIMATED pins50% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 50%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 1 reference, the source included, supports the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins from 50% to 74% confidence
The Korea Herald's[1] report on the 7 March 2024 groundbreaking gives a target opening year of "2030", so the pin sits at the end of that year.- Groundbreaking
- Dec 31, 203050% CONFIDENCEsource
Problem it solves
SourceTravel between Songdo, Incheon and central Seoul is slow.
How: The 82 km GTX-B express line with 14 stations cuts the Songdo to central Seoul trip to about 30 minutes.
GTX-B Express Line Opens Between Incheon and Namyangju
The 82 km GTX-B runs from Incheon National University Station in Songdo through Yeouido, Yongsan, Seoul Station and Cheongnyangni to Maseok in Namyangju, serving 14 stations and cutting the Songdo to central Seoul trip to about 30 minutes. Construction began on 7 March 2024.
- Construction of GTX Line B broke ground in Incheon "on Thursday", at a ceremony for some 500 people at Songdo Convensia; the article gives the weekday rather than the 7 March 2024 date the pin carries[1]
- The project is costed at 6.84 trillion won ($5.14 billion) and runs 82 kilometres, connecting the port city to Seoul and Gyeonggi Province by express train[1]
- President Yoon Suk Yeol said the 13 million people of Incheon and Seoul will have 30-minute commutes once the line is complete "as planned by 2030", the year the pin uses[1]
- Journey times cited: Songdo to Seoul Station in 29 minutes, against at least an hour and a half by subway or two hours by bus today, and Songdo to Yeouido in 23 minutes[1]
- Travellers can transfer to the subway at any of the 14 stations, including Incheon National University Station in Songdo, stations in western Incheon and Maseok Station in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province; the article names only these, not the Yongsan or Cheongnyangni stops in the pin's description[1]
- GTX stands for Great Train Express, with trains running at up to 180 kilometres per hour; Line B is the third of six planned lines to break ground, after Line A in 2018 and Line C in January[1]
- All six GTX routes would cost 38.6 trillion won and shrink daily commute times to a quarter of current levels, according to a Yoon administration announcement earlier in January[1]
- The line had stalled despite inclusion in a long-term national railway network plan in 2011; Yoon announced its launch in January 2023 and said "following 60 meetings for strategy executions ... we were able to hold this historic ceremony", calling it the start of "the transportation revolution in Incheon"[1]
- Yoon hinted at an eastward Line B extension to Gangwon Province, potentially connecting Incheon to Chuncheon, and said rail connections due before 2027 would let KTX trains reach Incheon, cutting Incheon to Busan to under three hours[1]
Cost ₩6.8T (≈$5.1B)