The Daegu Line () is a railway line in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. The line connects Gacheon station on the

Gyeongbu Line The Gyeongbu line (''Gyeongbuseon'') is a railway line in South Korea and is considered to be the most important and one of the oldest in the country. It was constructed in 1905, connecting Seoul with Busan via Suwon, Daejeon, and Daegu. It is ...

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

Yeongcheon Yeongcheon (; ) is a city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Yeongcheon is located southeast of Seoul, in the southeast of North Gyeongsang Province. It is on the Gyeongbu Expressway linking Seoul and Busan, and is also the junction o ...

on the Jungang Line. The line is served by frequent passenger trains between

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

(via the Gyeongbu Line), Dongdaegu, and

Gyeongju Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...

Pohang Pohang (; ), formerly spelled Po-Hang, is the largest city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, with a List of cities in South Korea, population of 499,363 as of 2022, bordering the Sea of Japan, East Sea to the east, Yeongcheon to the w ...

and

Ulsan Ulsan (; ), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbo ...

(via the Jungang and Donghae Nambu Lines).

History

The first section of the Daegu Line was opened in 1917, between

and Hayang. The line was extended to the Haksan station in

until 1919 as follows: A branch was opened from

on October 25, 1921. The sections from Gyeongju to Pohang and Ulsan were integrated into the Donghae Nambu Line on December 16, 1935. On 1 July 1938 the reconstruction of the section

–Yeongcheon was complete with the standard gauge. On 1 December 1938 the section Yeongcheon–Gyeongju became a part of the Gyeonggyeong Nambu Line (the southern part of the Jungang Line), which was established on April 1, 1942. At the same time the present section was renamed the Daegu Line.

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The section from Dongdaegu to Cheongcheon was replaced by a new alignment that takes the Daegu Line to meet the Gyeongbu Line at Gacheon, lengthening the Dongdaegu–Cheongcheon line distance to . The Dongdaegu to Cheongcheon rail distance changed to , line proper from Gacheon to Yeongcheon is long. The project was launched in August 1997 with a planned completion in 2000, but economic difficulties and planning changes delayed completion, the line relocation was finally inaugurated on November 3, 2005. Part of the project was the replacement of a branch to

Daegu Airport Daegu International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Daegu and the surrounding area in southeastern South Korea. The airport is also a military base for the Republic of Korea Air Force, ROKAF's 11th Fighter Wing, whose ...

from the old alignment with a spur line paralleling the highway west from Cheongcheon to the airport, finished a year later. The Daegu Line was considered for an upgrade to a double-tracked, electrified railway in a straighter, long alignment from 2000. Detailed plans were prepared by 2009, the foreseen budget was 988.042 billion won, and the completion of the project was set for 2017. On September 1, 2010, the South Korean government announced a strategic plan to reduce travel times from Seoul to 95% of the country to under 2 hours by 2020. As part of the plan, the Daegu Line is to be set out for 230 km/h and may see KTX service. On 28 December 2021, electrification was completed.

References

Bibliography

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group. Name The English name "Japanese ...

(1937), 鉄道停車場一覧. 昭和12年10月1日現在 (List of stations as of 1 October 1937), Kawaguchi Printing Company, Tokyo, pp 493–494

External links

Korail
{{Korail Lines Railway lines in South Korea Railway lines opened in 1917

History

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See also

References

Bibliography

External links