Gyeongbu Line

In 1894–1895, the Empire of Japan and Qing China fought the First Sino-Japanese War for influence over Korea. Following the war, Japan competed with the Russian Empire's railway expansion in Northeast Asia, which led it to seek the right from the Korean Empire to build a railway from Busan to Keijō (the Japanese Empire's name for Seoul). This railway line was intended by Japan to solidify its strategic positions against Russia, with which it would later fight the war. Surveying began in 1896, and in spite of local protests, the Korean Empire gave Japan the right to build the line in 1898. Construction of the railway started on August 20, 1901, with a ceremony at Eitōho-ku, Keijō. The first trains completed the rote in 17 hours 4 minutes. By April 1906, travel time was reduced to 11 hours, The line formed the backbone of transport in Korea under Japanese rule. Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, beginning on April 1, 1933, direct trains traversed the line from Busan to Andong (modern-day Dandong) across the border. Beginning on December 1, 1936, the Akatsuki luxury express trains ran on the line at a maximum speed of , and achieved the shortest pre-war travel time of 6 hours 30 minutes Travel times greatly improved when the line was used during World War II. The line remained the backbone of South Korea's transportation system after the war, On the Gyeongbu Line, the effort was promoted with a new class of express trains called Jaegeon-ho, (Reconstruction train) introduced on May 15, 1962. A more detailed 1978-1981 study by KAIST, focusing on the needs of freight transport, also came to the conclusion that the necessary capacity for freight transport on the existing Gyeongbu Line could best be released by separating off long-distance passenger traffic on a parallel high speed passenger railway, which was then taken up in Korea's next Five Year Plan. Plans foresaw the development of the Gyeongbu Line into a high-capacity freight corridor after the completion of the second phase of the Gyeongbu HSR. At the time of the opening of the Daegu–Busan section of the high-speed line on November 1, 2010, capacity available for freight trains on the conventional line was expected to increase by a factor of 7.7, while the capacity for passenger transport in the entire corridor increased by a factor of 3.4. Electrification The line was electrified in stages from 1974 to 2006: For KTX trains and new electric locomotives, top speed was also raised to up to 150 km/h. ==Services==

The Gyeongbu Line is the major route out of Seoul and Yongsan stations and, in addition to regular departures for Busan, trains travel along the Gyeongbu Line en route to Janghang, Gwangju, Mokpo, Suncheon, Yeosu, Pohang, Ulsan, Haeundae, Masan, and Jinju. Trains for Jecheon, Andong, and Yeongju also operate along sections of the Gyeongbu Line. On the section between Seoul Station, Guro (where roughly half of the trains leave the Gyeongbu Line to head out to Incheon via the Gyeongin Line), Suwon, and Byeongjeom, Seoul Subway Line 1 provides frequent commuter services. The Gyeongbu Line is served along its entire length by frequent intercity Saemaul-ho and cross-country Mugunghwa-ho trains. Some trains run along the entire length of the line, others only on some sections, including trains diverging to the connected lines. As of October 2010, direct Saemaul day trains connect Seoul to Busan in a minimum 4 hours 50 minutes, and Mughungwa trains in a minimum 5 hours 28 minutes. KTX Korail launched KTX high-speed services with the opening of the first phase of the Gyeongbu HSR on April 1, 2004. An additional stop at Yeongdeungpo station was proposed in 2004, however, the plans were dropped in face of opposition from locals living around Gwangmyeong station along the Gyeongbu HSR, who feared that Yeongdeungpo would draw away passengers from the new station and force its closing. However, the November 1, 2010, timetable change made Yeongdeungpo a KTX stop, for newly introduced trains that also use the Gyeongbu Line on the entire Seoul–Daejeon section, to serve Suwon. From its opening, the Gyeongbu KTX service also returned to the Gyeongbu Line for two short sections crossing Daejeon and Daegu, where local disputes about the high-speed line alignment across urban areas held up construction; and all the way from Daegu to Busan. Consequently, all but two of the stations of the Gyeongbu KTX service were on the conventional Gyeongbu Line: after the two stations on the high-speed line, Gwangmyeong and Cheonan-Asan, stops were at Daejeon, Dongdaegu (East Daegu), Miryang, Gupo and Busan. The section between Daegu and Samnangjin, the junction with the Gyeongjeon Line, is also used by the Gyeongjeon KTX services, which connect Seoul to Masan on the Gyeongjeon Line since December 15, 2010, and will be extended to Jinju by 2012. Stops along the Gyeongbu Line will be at Dongdaegu and Miryang. Evolution of long-distance passenger traffic Between Seoul and Cheonan, the Mugunghwa and Saemaul express trains on the Gyeongbu Line gave rail around a fifth of the modal share before the launch of KTX services. Due to the short distance and the location of the KTX station outside the city, the conventional line could retain most of its passengers, and the increase in the total modal share of rail was modest. On the medium-distance relation from Seoul to Daejeon, KTX gained market share mostly at the expense of normal express services on the Gyeongbu Line, which decreased by half in the first year, while the total share of rail increased to a third. On the long-distance relations from Seoul to Daegu and Busan, the total share of rail increased from around two-fifths to a market dominating three-fifths, with the bulk of that traffic taken by the KTX. For intercity passenger traffic on the conventional Gyeongbu Line, that translates to a sharp drop on the Daejeon-Daegu section (bypassed by KTX trains) and a sharp increase on the Daegu-Busan section. ==Station list==