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Railroad Information : From Korea peninsula to Siberia, and into the world. We will open up the age of the 'Iron Silk-raod'. Meet KORAIL in an enlarged atage.

Far and into the Era of Super-Speed Railroad

  • High-speed railroad usually runs over 200km/h, and South Korea also joined the file of high-speed railroad countries.
  • High-speed railroad business is considered as the largest government business and this railroad was opened in April 2004.
    Now South Korea has stepped into the 300km/h of super-speed era with France, Japan, Germany, Spain and etc.
    Opening of the high-speed railroad would bring great change to the people’s life by connecting the whole South Korea within 2 hours life zone due to faster speed. Also, it hugely affects society economically, socially and culturally.
    Fast, safe, comfortable and eco-friendly high-speed railroad is a high-tech compound which represents the next generation’s transportation.

Seoul~Bu-sn (KTX:2h 40min, Saemaeul:4h 10min), Seoul~Mok-po (KTX:2h 58min, Saemaeul:4h 42min)

Definition of the High-Speed Railroad

  • The definition of the high-speed railroad differs depending on time and country, but it usually means railroad that runs at high speed over 200km/h.
  • In 1964, Japan’s Tokaido Shin-Kan-Sen(Tokyo～Shin(new)-Osaka), the fasted train in the world-operated at the speed of 210km/h and stimulated other countries to rapidly develop and to research the speed technology. Now trains with the speed of 300km/h are operated. All high-speed railroad trains are electric-power-driven, and it is also called the high-speed electric railroad.
  • High-speed railroad is divided into two categories. One is Wheel-On-Rail that runs on railroad using wheels as existing trains and the other is Magnetic Levitation that rises up on the railroad using magnetic attraction-resistance.
  • The Wheel-On-Rail train was thought to be running at 330km/h maximum due to adhesive power limit, but France has succeeded test run of 513.3km/h at Southern railroad of Dae-Sung Yang-Sun Vendome section in May 1990, and is in constant development progress since then.
  • Magnetic Levitation train is under research project in Germany, Japan and so on, and it is being developed to reach 580km/h since Japan’s 550km/h renovation in 1997. In China, railroad opened and runs at 430km/h on the 32km section leading to Shanghai international airport in December 2002.

The Power of High-Speed Railroad that runs 300km/h

  • Korean high-speed railroad is designed to run 350km/h and operated at 300km/h maximum for safety.
  • It is driven by high-pressure electricity of 25,000 volts, and high-speed vehicle receives this energy with pulling power of 13,560kw and electric damping of 300KN(Kilo-Newton).
  • The outer look of high-speed vehicle is streamlined structure to work with air dynamics, and this vehicle uses one pantograph designed to increase concentration power of high-pressure electricity of 25,000 volts.
  • Each passenger car is connected with articular truck
    Truck traveling equipment connecting passenger car, the KTX is using articular truck which is free in motion. This truck is made to move freely as if a human bone joint, and it is light and quiet so that passengers can rides the KTX comfortably.
  • High-speed railroad is connected through welding partial rails to safely support the weight of high-speed vehicle which runs 350km/h maximum.
  • The railroad’s minimum radius of curve is 7,000m, which means that this railroad is almost a straight line throughout the whole section.
  • Weight of the rail is 60kg/m, and (ballasts to fix the railroad tie) are also 35cm thick from the bottom of railroad tie.
    General railroad the minimum radius of curve 400m, length of the rail is 25m, weight of the rail is 50～60kg, and 30cm above the ground
  • High-speed vehicle can accelerate 100km/h within 1.2 minutes, 300km/h within 6.8 minutes. Stop time is 1.23 minutes at 300km/h, 28 seconds at 100km/h.

Of what the high-speed railroad vehicle is composed

  • One high-speed train is composed of 20 cars in total which consists of 2 driving power cars, 2 driving passenger cars, 16 passenger cars and etc. The whole length of the vehicle is 387.9m, and gross weight is 771.2 tons (standard including passenger weight).
  • Number of seats in one train is 935 in total. Luxurious room has 127 seats of 3 seats per a car, general cars have 808 seats of 4 seats per a car, and there are 30 simple seats.

Equipments distinctive to high-speed train

  • High-speed trains are composed of high-tech systems designed to reduce various errors due to fast speed.
  • For the traffic sign, there are Automatic Train Control (ATC) equipment, Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) and etc.
  • For the safe operation and comfortable ride, there are on-car computer systems to automatically control the whole high-speed train, self-diagnosis system to sense various errors like fire, and air cleaning system to produce optimal environment inside vehicles and etc.
  • For the passenger safety, there are relevant facilities such as obstruction detecting device that automatically restrains speed when an obstacle falls onto high-speed railroad, and rail temperature sensor that automatically senses temperature of the railroad.
  • Besides the devices above, there are other high-tech safety devices that could not be seen on existing trains such as tunnel alarm device for safety of workers who work inside the tunnel, dragging equipment detector which protects facilities when an obstacle is dragged on railroad and etc.