Seoul: Emblazoned with a tiger and a bear — the mascots of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics — a blue and white high-speed train rolled out of Seoul station yesterday as a new line to the venues opened to the public.
The railway cuts travel times significantly, reaching Jinbu — the station for snow sports at the Pyeongchang Games — in one hour and 20 minutes from Seoul, and another 16 minutes to Gangneung on the east coast, where ice events will take place.
During the Games 51 trains will operate a day on the 278-kilometre line, which starts from Incheon airport southwest of the capital, with a total capacity of 20,910 passengers. The new railway is part of South Korea’s KTX network.
Previously travellers from Seoul to Pyeongchang have mostly had to go by road — around a three-hour drive.
