The Suin Line (Suwon-Incheon; ) was a metro line of the

Seoul Metropolitan Subway The Seoul Metropolitan Subway () is a urban rail transit, metropolitan railway system consisting of 23 rapid transit, Medium-capacity rail transport system, light metro, commuter rail and people mover lines located in northwest South Korea. T ...

serving the

Seoul Capital Area The Seoul Metropolitan Area (Sudogwon; , ) or Gyeonggi (region), Gyeonggi region (), is the metropolitan area of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, located in north-western South Korea. Its population of 26 million (as of 2024) is ranked ...

. The original route, abandoned in 1995, was one of the few

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...

s 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 ...

. Opened by the privately owned Chosen Gyeongdong Railway in 1937, it connected

Suwon Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...

to Namincheon via

Ansan Ansan (, ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies southwest of Seoul and is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area. It is connected to Seoul by rail via Seoul Subway Line 4. It is situated on the Yellow Sea coast and some islands lie ...

and Siheung; in 1942, it was taken over by another private railway, the Chosen Railway (the largest of colonial Korea's privately owned railway companies). The Chosen Railway owned the line until all railways in Korea were nationalized after 1945. However, since December 28, 2004, the Suin Line is being reconstructed with

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

and

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

ing as an integral part of the

network and is opening in three phases. All northbound trains terminated at

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

, all southbound services terminated at Oido. Express train service served only Oido, Soraepogu, Incheon Nonhyeon, Woninjae, Yeonsu, Inha University, and Incheon. Trains along the line were 6 cars long. Platforms at stations are built for 8 cars in preparation for the merging of the Bundang Line with the Suin Line, and are prepared for 10 cars when the extension occurs. Trains run at an interval of 15 minutes throughout the day.

History

2012: :June 30: The rebuilt Suin Line is officially opened from Oido to Songdo. 2014: :December 27: Darwol Station opens as an in-fill station. 2016: :February 27: The line is extended westward from Songdo to

. 2017: :July 10: Express service is launched on the line. 2020: :September 12: The line is extended eastward from Oido to Suwon. The Suin Line and Bundang Line are integrated into Suin–Bundang Line, which connects Incheon and Wangsimni. Trains run from Cheongnyangni station or Wangsimni station to Jukjeon station, Gosaek station, or Incheon station.

Planned for the future

Hagik station is planned to open between Songdo and

Inha University Inha University () is a private research university located in Incheon, South Korea. Known traditionally for research and education in the engineering and physical sciences, the university was established by the first president of South Korea, S ...

in 2020. In addition, a connection line is under consideration at

that will allow KTX trains to run between the Gyeongbu high-speed railway and Incheon Station via the Suin-Bundang Line by 2025.

Stations

Current alignment

Former alignment

Rolling stock

The Suin Line used 18 Korail Class 351000 trains. They were the same as the third generation Class 351000 trains from the Bundang Line, except that they were painted red like the Gyeongui-Jungang Line and Line 1 trains. These trains have since been repainted yellow to match the color of Bundang Line trains; this was done in anticipation of the merging of the Bundang and Suin Lines into the Suin–Bundang Line. For the former Suin Line, the Korean National Railroad built a narrow gauge steam locomotive, the KNR160 diesel car (also known as the Niigata/Kawasaki Diesel Car), and the KNR18000 passenger car. One KNR160 car (later renumbered KNR9160) and two KNR18000 car are preserved at the railroad museum in nearby

Uiwang Uiwang (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is one of many satellite cities that ring Seoul, making up the Seoul Capital Area. Its largest immediate urban neighbor is Anyang. The low peaks of the Gwangju Mountains (including M ...

Sungui Station

Sungui

References

{{Public transport in the Seoul Metropolitan Area Seoul Metropolitan Subway lines Railway lines in South Korea Railway lines opened in 1937