1.
Passenger rail terminology
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It uses passenger railcars operating singly or in multiple unit trains on fixed rails. It operates on separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded and it uses sophisticated signaling systems, and high platform loading. Originally, the rapid transit was used in the 1800s to describe new forms of quick urban public transportation that had a right-of-way separated from street traffic. This set rapid transit apart from horsecars, trams, streetcars, omnibuses, though the term was almost always used to describe rail transportation, other forms of transit were sometimes described by their proponents as rapid transit, including local ferries in some cases. The term bus rapid transit has recently come into use to describe bus lines with features to speed their operation and these usually have more characteristics of light rail than rapid transit. They are consequently designed for operations in tunnel, viaducts or on surface level, in different parts of the world Metro systems are also known as the underground, the subway or the tube. Rail systems with specific construction issues operating on a segregated guideway are also treated as Metros as long as they are designated as part of the public transport network. ”Metropolitan railways are used for high capacity public transportation. They can operate in trains of up to 10 cars, carrying 1800 passengers or more, in Germany, the terms U-Bahn and S-Bahn are used. Some metro systems run on rubber tires but are based on the same principles as steel wheel systems. Subway used in a transit sense refers to either a rapid transit system using heavy rail or a light system that goes underground. The term may only to the underground parts of the system. Some lines described as subway use light rail equipment, notably, Bostons Green Line and the Newark City Subway, each about half underground, originated from fully surface streetcar lines. Sometimes the term is qualified, such as in Philadelphia, where trolleys operate in a subway for part of their route. In some cities where subway is used, it refers to the system, in others. Historic posters referred to Chicagos Red & Blue lines as the subway lines, interestingly, when the Boston subway was originally built, the subway label was only used for sections into which streetcars operated, and the rapid transit sections were called tunnels. Bus subways are uncommon but do exist, though in cases the non-underground portions of route are not called subways. Bus subways are built to provide an exclusive right-of-way for bus rapid transit lines. These are usually called by the bus rapid transit
2.
Commuter rail
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Trains operate following a schedule, at speeds varying from 50 to 200 km/h. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used and they primarily serve lower density suburban areas, and often share right-of-way with intercity or freight trains. Some services operate only during peak hours and others uses fewer departures during off peak hours, average speeds are high, often 50 km/h or higher. These higher speeds better serve the longer distances involved, some services include express services which skip some stations in order to run faster and separate longer distance riders from short-distance ones. The general range of commuter trains distance varies between 15 and 200 km, sometimes long distances can be explained by that the train runs between two or several cities. Distances between stations may vary, but are much longer than those of urban rail systems. In city centers the train either has a station or passes through the city centre with notably fewer station stops than those of urban rail systems. Toilets are often available on trains and in stations. Their ability to coexist with freight or intercity services in the same right-of-way can drastically reduce system construction costs, however, frequently they are built with dedicated tracks within that right-of-way to prevent delays, especially where service densities have converged in the inner parts of the network. Most such trains run on the standard gauge track. Some light rail systems may run on a narrower gauge, some countries, including Finland, India, Pakistan, Russia, Brazil and Sri Lanka, as well as San Francisco in the USA and Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia, use broad gauge track. The fact that the terminology is not standardised across countries further complicates matters, most S-bahns typically behave like commuter rail with most trackage not separated from other trains, and long lines with trains running between cities and suburbs rather than within a city. The distances between stations however, are usually short, in larger systems there is usually a high frequency metro-like central corridor in the city center where all the lines converge into. Typical examples of large city S-Bahns include Munich and Frankfurt, S-Bahns do also exist in some mid-size cities like Rostock and Magdeburg but behave more like typical commuter rail with lower frequencies and very little exclusive trackage. A similar network exists in Copenhagen called the S-tog, in Hamburg and Copenhagen, other, diesel driven trains, do continue where the S-Bahn ends. Regional rail usually provides rail services between towns and cities, rather than purely linking major population hubs in the way inter-city rail does, Regional rail operates outside major cities. Unlike Inter-city, it stops at most or all stations between cities and it provides a service between smaller communities along the line, and also connections with long-distance services at interchange stations located at junctions or at larger towns along the line. Alternative names are local train or stopping train, examples include the former BRs Regional Railways, Frances TER, Germanys DB Regio and South Koreas Tonggeun services
3.
Inter-city rail
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Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that cover longer distances than commuter or regional trains. There is no definition of inter-city rail, its meaning may vary from country to country. Most typically, an inter-city train is a train with limited stops. Inter-city rail sometimes provides international services and this is most prevalent in Europe, due to the close proximity of its 50 countries in a 10,180,000 square kilometre area. Eurostar and EuroCity are examples of this and this use of the term appeared in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and has been widely imitated. The speeds of inter-city rail lines are diverse, ranging from 50 km/h in a mountainous area or on undeveloped tracks to 200–350 km/h on newly constructed or improved tracks. As a result, Inter-city rail may or may not fall into the category of higher-speed rail or high-speed rail, ideally, the average speed of inter-city rail service would be faster than 100 km/h in order to be competitive with car, bus and other methods of transport. 50–100 km The distance of an inter-city rail journey is usually at least 50–100 km, although in large metropolitan areas commuter. 100–500 km A distance of 100–500 km is a common journey distance for inter-city rail in many countries, in many cases, railway travel is most competitive at about 2–3 hours journey time. Inter-city rail can compete with highways and short-haul air travel for journeys of this distance. 500–1,000 km In journeys of 500–1,000 km, development of high-speed rail in some countries increases the share of railway for such longer-distance journeys. The Paris-Marseille TGV and Tokyo-Aomori Shinkansen are examples of type of journey. In conventional non high-speed rail, overnight trains are common for this distance, in many other countries, such long-distance rail journey has been replaced by air travel except for tourism or hobbyist purposes, luxury train journeys, or significant cost benefit. Discount Eurail Pass in Europe, Amtrak in the United States, New high-speed lines from 200–350 km/h operation are constructed, and many conventional lines are also upgraded to 200 km/h operation. Currently there are seven High-Speed Inter-City lines in China, with up to 21 planned and they are operated independently from the often parallel High-Speed-Rail-Lines. Japan has six main regional railway companies, known collectively as Japan Railways Group or simply as JR. Many other cities are covered by a network of JRs limited express inter-city trains on 1,067 mm, narrow gauge, major cities are covered by convenient train services of every one hour or more frequent. In addition to the JR Group, Japan has several major regional carriers such as the Kintetsu, almost every major town and city in South Korea is linked by railway, run by Korail
4.
Seoul Metropolitan Subway
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The Seoul Metropolitan Subway is a metropolitan railway system consisting of 20 rapid transit, light metro, commuter rail and people mover lines located in northwest South Korea. The system serves most of the Seoul Metropolitan Area including the Incheon metropolis, some regional lines in the network cross large rural areas to reach major cities in northern Chungnam province and western Gangwon province that lie over 100 km away from the capital. The network consists of numbered lines 1–9, which serve Seoul City proper and its surroundings, most of the system is operated by four companies – Seoul Metro, Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit, Korail and Metro 9. Its first metro line, Line 1, started construction in 1971 and opened in 1974, the first line of the Seoul Subway network started construction in 1971 with economic and technical assistance from Japan. The first section of subway was built using the cheaper cut, Line 1 opened in 1974 with through services joining surrounding Korail suburban railway lines similar to the Tokyo subway. Today, many of the Seoul Metropolitan Subways lines are operated by Korail, South Koreas national passenger and it has been described as the worlds longest multi-operator metro system by route length. Nearly all stations have platform screen doors installed, only Gaewha, by 2017, Korail will completely install screen doors in every station and platform. The worlds first virtual mart for smartphone users opened at Seolleung Station in 2011, all directional signs in the system are written in Korean, English and Hanja. In trains there are in addition many LCD screens giving service announcements, upcoming stop names, YTN news, stock prices, there are also prerecorded voice announcements that give the upcoming station, any possible line transfer, and the exiting side in Korean, followed by English. At major stations, this is followed by Japanese, then Mandarin Chinese, Seoul Subway uses full-color LCD screens at all stations to display real-time subway arrival times, which are also available on apps for smartphones. Most trains have digital TV screens, and all of them have air conditioning, in 2014, it became the worlds first metro operator to use transparent displays for ads when it installed 48 transparent displays on major stations of Line 2 in Gangnam District. Trains on numbered lines generally run on the track, while trains on the named lines run on the left-hand track. The exceptions are the trains on Line 1, as well as those on Line 4 south of Namtaeryeong Station and these lines run on the left-hand track because these rail lines are operated by Korail, South Koreas national railway operator. While operating hours may vary depending on the line in question, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway generally operates from 5.30 am until 1 am on weekdays, Line 1, from Seongbuk Station to Incheon Station and Suwon Station, opened on 15 August 1974. On 9 December 1978, the Yongsan-Cheongnyangni line was added to Line 1, Line 2 opened on 10 October 1980. In 1985, the system changed from charging by distance to zone. Line 4 opened on 20 April 1985, and Line 3 on 12 July, on 1 April 1994, the Indeogwon-Namtaeryeong extension of Line 4 opened. The Bundang Line, from Suseo Station to Ori Station, opened on 1 September, on 15 November 1995, Line 5 opened
5.
Seoul
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The Seoul Capital Area houses up to half of the countrys population of 50.22 million people with 678,102 international residents. Situated on the Han River, Seouls history stretches back more than two years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, in 2015, it was rated Asias most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis. In 2014, the citys GDP per capita of $39,786 was comparable to that of France and Finland. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, Seoul is the worlds most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwCs Cities of Opportunity report. It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi, Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the worlds best airport nine years in a row by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has built in Seoul and become the OECDs tallest in 2016. Its Lotte Cinema houses the worlds largest cinema screen, Seouls COEX Mall is the worlds largest underground shopping mall. Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games,1988 Summer Olympics,2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, a UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. The city has known in the past by the names Wirye-seong, Hanju. During Japans annexation in Korea, Hanseong was renamed to Keijō by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja 漢, in reality, the ancient name of Seoul, Hanseong, originally had the meaning of big or vast. Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning city, which is believed to be derived from the word Seorabeol, which originally referred to Gyeongju. Unlike most place names in Korea, Seoul has no corresponding hanja, on January 18,2005, Seoul government officially changed its official Chinese language name to Shouer from the historic Hancheng, of which use is becoming less common. Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, a wall just outside Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century
6.
Gyeonggi Province
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Gyeonggi-do is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, Gyeonggi means the surrounding capital. Thus Gyeonggi-do can be translated as province surrounding Seoul, seoul—South Koreas largest city and national capital—is in the heart of the province but has been separately administered as a provincial-level special city since 1946. Incheon—South Koreas third largest city—is on the coast of the province and has been administered as a provincial-level metropolitan city since 1981. The three jurisdictions collectively cover 11,730 km2, with a population of 25.6 million—amounting to over half of the entire population of South Korea. Gyeonggi-do has been an important area since 18 BCE, when Korea was divided into three nations during the Three Kingdoms period. Afterward, the current location of Gyeonggi-do, one of the nine states of Later Silla, was called Hansanju, the Gyeonggi region started to rise as the central region of Goryeo as King Taejo of Goryeo set up the capital in Gaesong. Since 1018, this area has been officially called Gyeonggi, since the period of King Taejong and Sejong the Great, the Gyeonggi region has been very similar to the current administrative area of Gyeonggi-do. In 1895 the 23-Bu system, which reorganized administrative areas, was effected, the Gyeonggi region was divided into Hanseong, Incheon, Chungju, Gongju, and Kaesong. During the Japanese colonial period Hanseong-bu was incorporated into Gyeonggi-do, on October 1,1910, it was renamed Keijo and a provincial government was placed in Keijo according to the reorganization of administrative districts. After liberation and the foundation of two Korean governments, Gyeonggi-do and its capital, Seoul, were separated with partial regions of Gyeonggi-do being incorporated into Seoul thereafter. Additionally, Kaesong became North Korean territory, the city to change control after the countries were divided at the 38th parallel. In 1967 the seat of the Gyeonggi provincial government was transferred from Seoul to Suwon, after Incheon separated from Gyeonggi-do in 1981, Gyeonggi regions such as Ongjin County and Ganghwa County were incorporated into Incheon in 1995. Gyeonggi-do is the central region of the Korean Peninsula, which is vertically situated in Northeast Asia and is between east longitude of 126 and 127, and north latitude of 36 and 38. Its dimension is 10% of Korea’s territory,10,171 square kilometres and its provincial government is in Suwon, but some of its government buildings are in Uijeongbu for the administrative conveniences of the northern region. The climate of Gyeonggi-do is the climate, which has a severe differentiation of temperature between summer and winter, and has distinctions of four seasons. Spring is warm, summer is hot and humid, autumn is cool, the annual average temperature is between 11–13 °C, where the temperature in the mountainous areas to the northeast is lower and the coastal areas to the southwest is higher. For January’s average temperature, the Gyeonggi Bay is −4 °C, the Namhangang Basin is −4 – −6 °C, and it becomes colder and higher in temperature differentiation from coastal to inland areas
7.
Gangwon Province, South Korea
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For the province in North Korea that bears the same name but different romanisation, see Kangwon Province. Gangwon-do is a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon, before the division of Korea in 1945, Gangwon and its North Korean neighbor Kangwŏn formed a single province. In 2010 actor So Ji-sub was appointed an ambassador for tourism for Gangwon Province. Gangwon-do was one of the Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty, the province was formed in 1395, and derived its name from the names of the principal cities of Gangneung and the provincial capital Wonju. In 1895 Gangwon-do was replaced by the Districts of Chuncheon in the west, in 1896 Korea was redivided into thirteen provinces, and the two districts were merged to re-form Gangwon-do Province. Although Wonju rejoined Gangwon-do province, the capital was moved to Chuncheon. In 1945 Gangwon-do was divided by the 38th parallel north in 1945 into U. S, american and Soviet zones of occupation in the south and north respectively, which led to Wonsan joining the provinces northern half in 1946 to serve as its administrative center. In 1948, the half of the province became part of the new Republic of Korea. As a result of the Korean War Armistice Agreement of 1953, the provinces landscape is dominated by the Taebaek Mountains which almost reach the sea. As a consequence the coast is steep, Gangwon-do and its North Korean counterpart Kangwŏn are together referred to as the Gwandong region. The region west of the Taebaek Mountains is called Yeongseo, while the region east of the mountains is called Yeongdong, the term Yeongdong is frequently used in reference to transportation services from Seoul, the national capital. Thus, one might catch a bus or train on the Yeongdong Line, the area of Gangwon-do is 20,569 km2, of which four fifths are woodland. Edible alpine plants and mushrooms are harvested in these forests, the province is renowned for its agricultural produce, in particular potatoes and fish. Mineral resources of the province include iron, coal, fluorite, limestone, there are hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants. The main cities in the province are Chuncheon, Gangneung, Sokcho, Wonju, seoraksan and Mt. Odae with its ski run, attract a large number of national tourists. Both are located in parks in the Taebaek Mountains. South Koreas largest limestone cave, Hwanseongul, receives over one million visitors a year, the climate of Gangwon-do is influenced by the latitude. In summer along with the temperature and there is high humidity
8.
Mangu Station
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Mangu Station is a station on the Jungang Line, and the Gyeongchun Line since 21 December 2010. This station is probably most famous for being Seouls main distribution center of charcoal briquettes in the 1950s and 1960s and these briquettes were widely used by people to weather harsh winters when Korea was a developing country and recovering from the Korean War. It is a station that still predominantly handles freight trains and it is very close to an E-Mart and Costco stores. Although it is located close to the Sangbong Bus Terminal and Sangbong Station, with the electrification and twin-tracking of the Gyeongchun Line, this station is the newly designated western terminus station
Bundang
Gyeongui–Jungang
