Gwacheon Line


Gwacheon Line is a metropolitan rail line operated by Korail in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. All trains is operated as a through service into Seoul Metro's Line 4 and Ansan Line on the other end.
From January 15, 1993, to March 31, 1994, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1 operated through the Ansan Line, and since the opening of all sections on April 1, 1994, it has been operated as a part of the Metropolitan Subway Line 4.

Stations

Future

As a transportation measure for Gwacheon Information Town Station, a residential and industrial complex being built in the Galhyeon-dong area of Gwacheon-si, a new station is being built between Indeokwon and Gwacheon Government Complex, with the goal of opening in 2027. In addition, it is said that they are pushing forward with the installation of an evacuation track at Gwacheon Government Complex Station and Daegongwon Station as part of the promotion of the Line 4 express extension.

Criticisms

Noise and frequent operation delays

The Gwacheon Line, along with the Bundang Line which was completed around the same time, was given the nickname of "Noise Line" due to the inappropriate design of the concrete finish in their tunnels.
Before passenger use of the line commenced, the Seoul Metro Corporation ran a series of test runs on the Gwacheon and Ansan Lines, but they led to a series of operation delays due to reasons such as confusing the change in electric current that occurs in the rest of Line 4. Furthermore, the new trains that were deployed for the opening of the Gwacheon Line, the Korail Class 341000 and the Seoul Metro 4000 series, used VVVF inverters instead of the chopper controls that were used until that point, which meant that a sufficient period of test runs was needed. However, the trains were put into service without enough test runs, unbeknownst that there was an issue with the new trains' circuitry. The Korail Class 341000 trains ended up causing 15 incidents within the first 6 days of operation, and the Seoul Metro 4000 series trains also caused 3 incidents within the first month of operation. Due to the frequency of the incidents, Korail stopped the operation of some trains while their faulty parts were replaced, and the Seoul Metro Corporation also replaced faulty parts on 3 of their trains.