Lee Sangil: "Let the K-Semiconductor Heart Beat... Yongin Rail Network Essential to Ease Traffic Woes for 4.3 Million"

Yongin Mayor Lee Sangil Attends Public Hearing on 5th National Railway Network Plan
Meets Minister Hong Jiseon and Personally Hands Over Materials on Four Projects
Calls for Three Routes, Including Gyeonggang Line Extension and Semiconductor Line, to Be Included in 5th Plan
Lee: "Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railway, with B/C Ratio of 1.2, Must Be Included in National Plan"
"We Need to Raise Railway Investment to Over 100 Trillion Won... Yongin City to Set Aside Up to 1 Trillion Won for Railway Fund"

Lee Sang-il, mayor of Yongin Special City in Gyeonggi Province, urged the government on the 13th to include three railway projects proposed by Yongin City in the 5th National Railway Network Construction Plan, saying, "If Yongin's railway plans are realized, they will also strengthen the competitiveness of South Korea's semiconductor industry."

Yongin Mayor Lee Sangil speaks at a public consultation event on the 5th National Rail Network Construction Plan, held at the Korea Specialty Contractors Financial Cooperative Building in Seoul on the 13th. Photo provided by Yongin City.

Lee attended a public consultation event hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Seoul that day and explained the need to build the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railway, extend the Gyeonggang Line, and build the Gyeonggi Southern East-West Transverse Line (Semiconductor Line).

At the event, Lee met separately with Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-seon and personally handed him materials explaining the case for the three routes proposed by Yongin City—the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railway, the Gyeonggang Line extension, and the Gyeonggi Southern East-West Transverse Line (Semiconductor Line)—as well as the "Giheung Station Bundang Line extension," already included in the 4th National Railway Network Plan. He asked the minister to give the proposals active consideration.

Lee stayed with Yongin residents until the event, which lasted about 3 hours and 50 minutes, ended. After posting comments four times on the event's live-streaming YouTube channel, he took the microphone himself during the final segment, a public Q&A session. Lee said, "To significantly expand essential railway lines proposed by local governments across the country, the scale of national investment in railway networks must be raised substantially to more than 100 trillion won."

Lee particularly emphasized the economic viability and urgency of the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railway, a 50.7-kilometer route from Seoul Sports Complex via Suseo, Pangyo in Seongnam, Sinbong and Seongbok in Yongin, and Gwanggyo in Suwon to Bongdam in Hwaseong.

Lee said, "This is a key route that will ease transportation difficulties for 4.3 million residents in four cities—Yongin, Suwon, Seongnam, and Hwaseong—and relieve congestion on the severely gridlocked Yongin-Seoul Expressway. Its cost-benefit ratio (B/C) is a very high 1.2, demonstrating its economic viability, so it must be included in the 5th plan."

Yongin Special City Mayor Lee Sang-il hands Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-seon materials on four rail projects planned for Yongin, including the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railway, on the 13th. Provided by Yongin City.

He also highlighted the railway's connection to the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, which is being developed on the largest scale in the world.

The Gyeonggang Line extension is a project to connect Gyeonggi Gwangju Station to Namsa, Yongin, via Everland, over a distance of about 38 kilometers. Lee said the route would pass through the national semiconductor industrial complex in Idong and Namsa-eup and a specialized semiconductor new town in Idong-eup, and that it was also included in materials on Yongin's national industrial complex released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in December 2024. He added that including the Gyeonggang Line extension in the national plan would also help bring forward the opening of the Central Region Metropolitan Express Railway (JTX), a privately funded project linking Jamsil in Seoul to Cheongju Airport via Cheoin-gu, Yongin.

The Gyeonggi Southern East-West Transverse Line (Semiconductor Line) is an 89.4-kilometer route running from Bubal-eup in Icheon through Wonsam-myeon and Idong and Namsa-eup in Yongin, as well as Dongtan and Byeongjeom in Hwaseong, to Jeongok Port. In Yongin, it passes through the Wonsam-myeon Yongin Semiconductor Cluster General Industrial Complex, where SK hynix is set to establish operations, and the Idong-Namsa Advanced System Semiconductor Cluster National Industrial Complex, where Samsung Electronics is set to establish operations. Lee stressed that the route must be built quickly to connect semiconductor production hubs in Hwaseong, Yongin, and Icheon.

Yongin City is also moving quickly to secure funding of its own. To support the expansion of railway infrastructure, the city plans to build up a "railway fund" of at least 500 billion won and up to 1 trillion won by 2030.

Local government heads, including Mayor Lee Sangil, and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Jiseon pose for a commemorative photo at the public consultation event on the Fifth National Rail Network Construction Plan, held at the Seoul Professional Construction Center on the 13th. Provided by Yongin City.

Meanwhile, large numbers of residents from across the country gathered at the event that day, demonstrating keen interest in the 5th National Railway Network Construction Plan; attendance exceeded the available seating. At the venue, Lee met members of the "Citizens' Coalition for the Gyeonggi Southern Metropolitan Railway," made up of residents of Yongin, Suwon, Seongnam, and Hwaseong, and pledged a full-scale effort to ensure the project goes ahead.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.