Ansang Mayor Min-geun Lee: "Ansang Line Undergrounding Will Be a Turning Point for Urban Space Reconfiguration"

"Strengthening Connections in Previously Disconnected Urban Spaces"
"Creating a Pedestrian-Friendly Smart City"

"We will create the 'New Ansan Smart City' in the new central space of Ansan to achieve a transition to an integrated urban structure for a unified Ansan."

Lee Min-geun, mayor of Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province, recently revealed his plan to make the aboveground space secured through the Ansan Line undergrounding project?selected as a priority project for 'railroad undergrounding'?the new center of urban integration.

Lee Min-geun, Mayor of Ansan, is explaining the plan for the Ansan Line underground project at a press conference held in the large conference room of the city hall on the 17th. Provided by Ansan City

At a press conference held on the 17th in the large conference room of Ansan City Hall, Mayor Lee said, "The Ansan Line underground integrated development project will contribute to balanced urban development, image improvement, population inflow, and regional economic revitalization," adding, "We plan to strengthen connections between urban spaces and develop the area focusing on pedestrian-friendly functions."

The Ansan Line undergrounding project involves undergrounding the 5.12 km aboveground railway section between Choji Station and Jungang Station and developing the upper space as a complex. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport established the 'Special Act on Railroad Undergrounding and Integrated Development of Railroad Sites' in January last year, and last month selected three projects as priority projects: ▲Busan Line 1 from Busanjin Station to Busan Station ▲Ansan Line from Choji Station to Jungang Station ▲Daejeon Freight Yard (KRW 1.4 trillion).

Through the undergrounding project, the aboveground stations of Choji, Gojan, and Jungang on the Ansan Line will be relocated underground. Aboveground, a site of 712,000㎡?about 150 meters wide and roughly the size of 100 soccer fields?will be secured.

Mayor Lee stated, "Considering the limitations of covering the enormous costs through railroad site development alone, it was effective to establish a financial support strategy including surrounding city-owned land," and added, "We proposed the project by compactly adjusting the scale to ensure feasibility."

The city estimates the total project cost, including underground construction and upper site development, at about KRW 1.7 trillion. On the other hand, revenue from developing the upper site is expected to reach about KRW 2 trillion, making the project highly feasible according to the city's assessment.

Mayor Lee plans to create the 'New Ansan Smart City' in the secured aboveground space and achieve a transition to an integrated urban structure. He said, "We plan to strengthen connections with urban spaces and develop the area focusing on pedestrian-friendly functions." The project will be promoted with the primary consideration of its role as an integrated space.

To this end, he also presented specialized development directions for the areas around the three stations. The 'Choji Station district' will have international business functions linked to industrial complexes, the 'Gojan Station district' will have public administrative functions linked to administrative and cultural functions, and the 'Jungang Station district' will have complex business functions centered on research and educational facilities. Mayor Lee said, "We will use this as an opportunity not just for simple railroad undergrounding but for urban space reorganization to realize a national-level success model."

Mayor Lee said, "We will make this project a turning point for Ansan City to develop into a sustainable city for the future," adding, "We will strengthen communication with citizens from the basic planning stage and transparently disclose progress." He added, "In line with the project slogan 'Connecting spaces, connecting people,' we will do our best with the determination to mark a new chapter in the future of Ansan."

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