GTX 30 Stations to Be Developed as Transportation Hubs with Transfer Times Under 3 Minutes

GTX Station Transfer Center Promotion Status by History (Data from Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The government is collaborating with local governments to transform the 30 stations of the Metropolitan Area Express Railway (GTX), currently under construction, into 'metropolitan area transportation hubs' equipped with groundbreaking transfer services that allow transfer times of less than 3 minutes.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Area Wide-area Transportation Committee (DAEGANGWI) announced on the 2nd that it will promote a 'GTX Station Transfer Center Pilot Project Contest' targeting local governments to proactively establish railway and bus transfer routes linked with the GTX plan.

Once GTX is constructed, commuting times currently exceeding 2 hours are expected to be reduced to around 30 minutes, with daily users reaching up to 1 million. However, there have been many points raised that collaboration with local governments is necessary to build a connected transfer system with urban transportation modes such as subways and buses.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport decided to actively develop transfer center plans through a contest not only for Seoul Station, Cheongnyangni Station, and Samsung Station, which are already planning transfer centers, but also for the remaining 27 stations that either have no transfer center plans or are pursuing plans separately from the GTX project.

Among the 27 stations targeted for the pilot project contest, 13 have no transfer center plans, and 14 are developing transfer center plans independently from the GTX project by local governments or others.

DAEGANGWI aims to establish innovative transfer routes at GTX stations through this contest. For example, transfer routes will be shortened to a calculated distance of 180 meters and transfer times under 3 minutes, significantly reducing travel time.

DAEGANGWI will form an evaluation panel composed of experts in transportation, railways, and urban planning to assess the appropriateness of transfer center plans, excellence of design concepts, and expected effects in three stages before selecting the final projects. Projects selected in this contest will be reflected in related mid- to long-term plans such as the '4th Metropolitan Transportation Implementation Plan' and will receive priority national funding.

Submissions for the contest will be accepted until September 18, with evaluations conducted and final projects selected by October. A briefing session for local governments will be held on the 5th of this month.

Ji Jongcheol, Director of Metropolitan Transportation Operations at DAEGANGWI, said, "This pilot project is a new attempt where the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and local governments cooperate to proactively establish transfer systems from the early stages of railway projects," adding, "We expect that by incorporating local governments' ideas into railway plans, transfer centers will be available simultaneously with the GTX opening."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.