KTX Pyeongtaek~Osong Line Bid, Hyundai Rotem-Woojin Industrial Systems Competition

In the bid for the KTX Pyeongtaek~Osong high-speed train (EMU 320) scheduled to open in 2027, not only Hyundai Rotem but also the mid-sized company Woojin Industrial Systems have confirmed their participation.

On the 14th, Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) closed the bid for 136 high-speed train cars (EMU 320) to be deployed on the KTX Pyeongtaek~Osong line. It was confirmed that Woojin Industrial Systems participated in the bid along with Hyundai Rotem.

This high-speed rail bid originally had a deadline on the 7th, but since only Hyundai Rotem participated alone at that time, it was once canceled. The bid scale is 693 billion KRW. The final selection of the operator is expected to be possible within this month.

EMU-320 High-Speed Train

The Korean market had a monopoly structure with Hyundai Rotem as the sole manufacturer of high-speed trains. As issues arising from this monopoly were raised, KORAIL opened the opportunity for not only Hyundai Rotem, which had exclusively supplied high-speed trains so far, but also Woojin Industrial Systems to participate in this bid announcement.

The announcement specified in the 'Bidder Qualification' section that 'bidders must be nationals of countries that have signed the World Trade Organization (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement or Free Trade Agreements and supply goods produced or manufactured in the contracting country.' It also allowed consortium-type bid participation by stating that 'joint contracts are possible with up to five companies.' There are no qualification requirements such as 'experience in manufacturing and supplying distributed power high-speed trains with speeds over 300 km/h.' In other words, companies without experience in manufacturing distributed power high-speed trains can also participate in the bid.

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