The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 14th that the GTX-C line, a metropolitan express railway linking Deokjeong-dong in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, through central Seoul including Samseong Station, Yangjae Station and Cheongnyangni, and on to Suwon Station and Sangnoksu Station in Gyeonggi, will break ground on the 15th. When it is completed in 2031, travel time from Deokjeong Station to Samseong Station is expected to be shortened from the current 80 minutes to 30 minutes.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the GTX-C line construction project will be carried out under a build-transfer-operate (BTO) model. Under BTO, a private operator invests to build infrastructure such as railways and transfers ownership to the government or a local government after completion. The private operator runs the facility for a set period and collects revenue. The total project cost is 492.72 billion won.
The GTX-C project had its implementation plan approved in Dec. 2023 and was slated to break ground the following year, but the project was delayed for more than two years. Because soaring construction costs due to COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war were not reflected, a construction contract could not be signed. In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the project operator, the Hyundai Engineering & Construction consortium, filed for arbitration on construction costs with the Korea Commercial Arbitration Board, and in April the board decided to increase the construction cost. With the government's Private Investment Project Review Committee reflecting that decision, the project can now break ground.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said that once GTX-C opens, travel time from Suwon Station to Cheongnyangni Station will be reduced from the current 75 minutes to 30 minutes. Kim Yong-seok, chair of the Metropolitan Transport Commission, said, "We will ensure quality and safety through rigorous schedule management and open the line on time."