History
An east-west railway along Korea's southern shore was long seen as a strategic route, but it took a number of attempts to complete the line. The first section of the line was opened as a branch from the newly built Gyeongbu Line at Samnangjin to Masan in May 1905, which was named the Masan Line. On December 1, 1923, the Jinju Line opened from Masan to Jinju, extending the line to 110.2 km (68.5 mi). A branch from Changwon on the Masan Line to Jinhae, the Jinhae Line, opened on November 11, 1926.
Meanwhile, construction started in the opposite direction from Songjeong-ri (today Gwangju·Songjeong) on the Honam Line, the other end of the future Gyeongjeon Line, with the first 14.9 km (9.3 mi) to Gwangju opened in July 1922. The 155.5 km (96.6 mi) Gwangju Line was completed to Yeosu on December 25, 1930. Six years later, on December 16, 1936, the Suncheon–Yeosu section became part of the newly established Jeolla Line, leaving the 134.6 km (83.6 mi) long Songjeong-ri–Suncheon section as the Gwangju Line.
Following the 1961 coup, the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction started South Korea's first five-year plan, which included a construction program to complete the railway network, to foster economic growth. As part of the program, work began on a line to plug the gap between Jinju and Suncheon on April 28, 1962. The difficult 80.5 km (50.0 mi) long section included 38 bridges with a total length of 1,697 m (5,568 ft) and 27 tunnels with a total length of 7.67 km (4.77 mi), as well as 13 new stations. The Jeoju–Suncheon line opened on February 7, 1968, when the whole 325.2 km (202.1 mi) railway line from Samnangjin to Songjeong-ri was renamed the Gyeongjeon Line. By the mid-2000s, alignment modifications shortened the line length to 300.6 km (186.8 mi).
Read more about this topic: Gyeongjeon Line
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