KTX trains stopping at Gyeongju Station will increase significantly before and after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) on the 7th, KORAIL will add 46 stops in total, or 4 to 10 per day, for one week from the 27th to the 2nd of next month on KTX services stopping at Gyeongju Station on the Gyeongbu high-speed line.
From Oct. 27 to Nov. 2, the number of KTX stops at Gyeongju Station will increase from a base 314 (145 northbound, 169 southbound) to 360 (168 northbound, 192 southbound) by adding 23 in each direction. During this period, SRT will not make temporary stops and will run 31 to 37 times a day as usual.
A temporary stop allows a KTX train that normally passes through Gyeongju Station without stopping to stop there. Departure and arrival times at stations before and after Gyeongju are moved up or delayed by about five minutes to adjust the schedule.
KORAIL is increasing the number of stops to facilitate participants' travel in line with the schedule of the APEC summit and other major and side events.
The APEC summit will be held for two days starting on the 31st. Before that, the final senior officials' meeting (Oct. 27 to 28) for summit preparations and the joint meeting of foreign and trade ministers (AMM; Oct. 29 to 30) will take place. The APEC CEO Summit, an Asia-Pacific annual business forum held as an official side event of the APEC summit, will also be held in Gyeongju from the 29th to the 31st.
In line with these schedules, four additional stops per day will be made from the 27th to the 29th, and on the 30th, the day before the summit, the most additional stops, 10, will be made. From the 31st to the 2nd of next month, eight more stops will be added each day for three days.
According to the APEC Preparatory Planning Group, a total of 15,491 people are expected to travel by KTX to the APEC venues from the 24th to the 3rd of next month. Based on the first half of this year, the average daily number of passengers boarding and alighting at Gyeongju Station is 6,737 (5,495 on weekdays, 8,377 on weekends), which means about 1,000 more people per day.
KORAIL also completed upgrades to facilities such as automatic doors at Gyeongju Station entrances, restrooms, and passageways, as well as landscaping of trees and paving block work in the station square ahead of APEC. Since last month, the company has increased staffing at Gyeongju Station by three on weekdays and four on weekends to enhance customer safety and convenience.