KTX Surpasses 1 Billion Cumulative Passengers... "Equivalent to 20 Rides Per Citizen"

First Operation Started on April 1, 2004
National Travel Distance Equivalent to 15,500 Trips Around the Earth
Average Daily Ridership Tripled

KTX surpasses 1 billion cumulative passengers 19 years and 5 months after ushering in the high-speed rail era.

KTX by the Numbers: 1 Billion Passengers. (Provided by Korail)

On the 30th, Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) announced in a press release, "KTX, which began its first operation on April 1, 2004, will exceed 1 billion cumulative passengers on the 31st," adding, "This means that 50 million citizens have each taken KTX 20 times."

The cumulative number of KTX passengers exceeded 100 million just three years after its first operation in 2007, and surpassed 500 million in 2015. Since its opening, KTX has traveled a total distance of 620 million kilometers nationwide. This is equivalent to circling the Earth’s circumference (40,000 km) 15,500 times. The total distance traveled by 1 billion passengers combined is 252 billion kilometers, roughly equivalent to traveling back and forth between the Earth and the Sun (150 million km) 840 times.

The routes started with two lines (20 stations) on the Gyeongbu and Honam lines in the first year of operation and have expanded to eight lines (68 stations). The number of daily operations increased from 142 to 357 (based on Saturdays), a 2.5-fold increase. The most frequently used section is Seoul to Busan, with an average of 17,000 passengers per day.

Following that, the Seoul to Daejeon and Seoul to Dongdaegu sections each had 12,000 passengers. Seoul Station, where trains from six lines including Gyeongbu, Donghae, Gyeongjeon, Honam, Jeolla, and Gangneung depart, had the highest daily usage with 94,000 passengers. Since starting operations on the Gyeongbu Line (Seoul to Busan) and Honam Line (Yongsan to Mokpo) in 2004, KORAIL has been expanding the benefits of high-speed rail nationwide.

As of this year, the average daily number of KTX passengers is 226,000, more than three times the 72,000 passengers in 2004.

KTX has brought significant changes to citizens’ lives, even coining the new term "Jangchuljok" (long-distance commuters). In the early days of operation, 85% of tickets were purchased at station counters, but now online ticketing accounts for nearly 90%.

KORAIL plans to present the 1 billionth KTX customer with a free one-year first-class ticket on the 31st.

Han Moon-hee, President of KORAIL, said, "Surpassing 1 billion KTX passengers is a precious achievement made together with the people and a record of South Korea’s growth. We will strive for safer and smarter KORAIL through service and digital innovation."

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