KTX

KTX (Korea Train eXpress, Korean: 한국고속철도) is the first high-speed rail system in South Korea, and is operated by Korail. Construction began on the high-speed line from Seoul to Busan in 1992. KTX services were launched on April 1, 2004. The KTX services now radiate from Seoul Station toward destinations across the nation, competing against SRT services from Suseo station, except Jungbunaeryuk Line which depart from Pangyo station. The current maximum operating speed for trains in regular service is 305 km/h (190 mph), though the infrastructure is designed for 350 km/h (217 mph). The initial rolling stock was based on Alstom's TGV Réseau, and was partly built in Korea. The domestically developed HSR-350x, which achieved 352.4 km/h (219.0 mph) in tests, resulted in a second type of high-speed trains now operated by Korail, the KTX-Sancheon, which entered into commercial service in 2010. The next generation experimental electric multiple unit prototype, HEMU-430X, achieved 421.4 km/h (261.8 mph) in 2013, making South Korea the world's fourth country after Japan, France and China to develop a high-speed train running on conventional rail above 420 km/h (260 mph). It was further developed into commercialized variants, namely KTX-Eum and KTX-Cheongryong, with respective maximum service speeds of 260 km/h (160 mph) and 320 km/h (200 mph), which entered into KTX services in 2021 and 2024, respectively.