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| ▲ A platform at Gimpo International Airport Station on the Gimpo Goldline is packed with passengers waiting to board a train in western Seoul on April 13, 2023. (Yonhap) |
subway congestion-measures
Gov't unveils measures to relieve overcrowding on Gimpo Goldline
SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- The government said Friday it will devise measures to ease the notorious congestion on a light metro line linking Seoul with one of its satellite cities to the west, following the recent fainting of two passengers.
Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong presided over an emergency meeting to discuss overcrowding mitigation measures for the Gimpo Goldline, a two-carriage subway line that opened in 2019 to connect Gimpo, a city on the western outskirts of Seoul, to the capital's subway system via Gimpo International Airport Station.
The Gimpo Goldline, the only means of rail transport for the city's 500,000 people, has been nicknamed the "hell train" as its congestion reaches intolerable levels during rush hour. Eventually, two passengers -- a high school girl and a woman in her 30s -- collapsed complaining of breathing difficulties at Gimpo International Airport Station on Tuesday morning.
In the meeting, Won said he will push to drastically increase the number of shuttle buses between Gimpo and Gimpo International Airport. To that end, the minister said he will ask Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to create bus-only lanes in the Seoul sections of roads between Gimpo and the airport. Gimpo residents have reportedly been reluctant to use buses due to rush hour traffic congestion.
In the long term, the government will accelerate the planned extension of Seoul Subway Line 5 to Gimpo and the construction of the Great Train Express D Line, a high-speed commuter railway, between Gimpo and the eastern Seoul area.
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