"GTX-C Line Wangsimni Station Establishment Essential!"... Seongdong Residents Strongly Urge Wangsimni Station Stop

On the 19th, a resident briefing session on the GTX-C Line Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment was held in the auditorium on the 3rd floor of the district office... Wangsimni Station, the largest transfer hub in northern Seoul served by Lines 2, 5, Bundang Line, Gyeongui-Jungang Line, and the Dongbuk Light Rail Transit (opening in 2025), is inefficient for the project if GTX-C Line passes through without stopping (annual total users: 109 million).

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] “The purpose of the GTX-C line is to improve urban accessibility for residents in the Seoul metropolitan area. So how can it make sense to just pass through Wangsimni Station, the largest transfer hub in northern Seoul?”

Voices calling for the establishment of Wangsimni Station on the GTX-C line, scheduled to open in 2026, are growing louder every day.

Seongdong-gu (District Mayor Jung Won-oh) announced that on the 19th, a ‘GTX-C Line Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (Draft) Resident Briefing Session’ hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was held in the large auditorium on the 3rd floor of the district office.

About 150 local residents and related parties attended the briefing. The main topic of the session was the ‘Establishment of Wangsimni Station’ on the GTX-C line.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment for the GTX-C line, released at the end of May, the section from Cheongnyangni to Samseong Station, which was originally planned to pass through the low-rise residential area of Seongsu-dong, has been changed to a route passing underground through Wangsimni Station along the Bundang Line. However, since Wangsimni Station, considered the largest transfer hub in northern Seoul, was not included as a stop, local residents and commuters from the metropolitan area traveling to and from Seoul have expressed growing concerns.

Wangsimni Station is a quintuple transfer station where a total of five subway (rail) lines stop. It serves Subway Lines 2 and 5, the Bundang Line, and the Gyeongui-Jungang Line, and with the opening of the Dongbuk Line light rail scheduled for 2025, it is expected to become a genuine metropolitan transportation hub.

In particular, Wangsimni Station functions as a transfer station connecting major points in Seoul during commuters’ rush hours, with an annual total ridership of approximately 109 million people. This figure is about 1.5 times higher than Cheongnyangni Station (about 68 million), where the GTX-C line is scheduled to stop.

Seongdong-gu is also strongly demanding that the GTX-C line stop at Wangsimni Station.

The GTX-C line consists of a total of 10 stations running from Yangju through Wangsimni to Suwon. However, among the six districts in central Seoul through which the GTX-C line passes, one station is installed per autonomous district, but Seongdong-gu is the only district excluded from having a station.

A district official explained, “Passing through Wangsimni Station without stopping, despite its outstanding transfer effect on the Cheongnyangni to Samseong section, undermines the efficiency of the metropolitan express railway network construction project and hinders balanced regional development.”

Seongdong-gu formed a task force team on the 3rd to establish Wangsimni Station on the GTX-C line, and on the 8th held a strategic meeting with a policy advisory group composed of railway experts, including professors from railway graduate schools.

Additionally, Seongdong-gu plans to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of Wangsimni Station on the GTX-C line and submit the results to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in the second half of this year.

Discontent is also high among local residents. Residents living near the tracks during the GTX-C line construction period will suffer from noise and vibration damage, and after opening, they will face significant inconvenience from ultrafine dust generated by the railway ventilation shafts.

Park, a 56-year-old resident of Seongdong-gu, said, “Using the station only as a connecting function without stopping at Wangsimni Station means that only Seongdong-gu residents have to bear the inconvenience,” strongly urging the inclusion of a stop at Wangsimni Station.

Currently, an online petition urging the GTX-C line to stop at Wangsimni Station is underway on the Seongdong-gu website until the 26th. In addition, local committees are being organized in each neighborhood, showing movements across the region to establish Wangsimni Station on the GTX-C line.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “Stopping at Wangsimni Station on the GTX-C line is a natural choice that enhances convenience and efficiency not only for Seongdong-gu residents but also for Seoul citizens and metropolitan area residents, and it must be reflected in the basic project plan. If the stop at Wangsimni Station is realized, it will not only align with the original purpose of GTX but also play an important role in the mid- to long-term development of Seongdong-gu.”

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