Across the Country in Less than Three Hours: Kyongbu High Speed Railway, South Korea

Since the new high speed railway line from Seoul to Busan became operational, travelers can cross South Korea from north to south in less than three hours. The Korea Train Express (KTX), South Korea’s high speed train, is technically modeled after the French TGV and can travel at a speed of more than 300km/h.

Work on the new 430.7km railway line began in 1992 and was finished at the end of 2010. The 1st section between Seoul and Daegu was opened to the public in April 2004, and the final section from Daegu to Busan was completed in December 2010. After completion, the travel time from Seoul to Busan is expected to be shortened to 2h 10min.

Work was carried out on the central and southern sections, at Kimchon Station. This section links the two cities of Kimchon (population 140,000) and Kumi (population 390,000). Construction of this section began in August 2008 and was completed at the end of 2010. Kimchon Station is divided into two sections: a station and a railway extension. The rail extension consists of a 3,780m long hollow box girder bridge with 74 spans that are 50m long each.

For the construction of the hollow box girder bridge, DSI Korea supplied a total of 3,168 Type 22x15.2mm active MA Anchorages and 1,464 external MA Anchorages, thus contributing to a fast and safe completion of construction work. In addition, DSI Korea supplied the stressing equipment necessary for post-tensioning. 8 sets of formwork were operated simultaneously on the job site. With a work cycle of 25 days per span, posttensioning was successfully completed by May 2010.