Korea - ICN - World's best airport gets better

December 29, 2010

South Korea (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/worlds-best-airport-gets-better-20101229-199oj.html)yesterday officially opened a railway linking its main international airport at Incheon to central Seoul, almost 10 years after the airport itself began operations.

The 58-km line linking Seoul station and the airport will start taking passengers from Wednesday, the transport ministry said.

Work on the 4.2-trillion-won ($A3.6 billion) project began in April 2001, a month after the airport opened.

So has anybody tried this yet? Sounds great and I look forward to using in in January.

Always good to see airports linked to their city with good public transport.

Finally!!!

So long airport bus!!! Hello train.

Yes, anybody who takes the train to or from city to ICN, please post report. Spare no details!

Hmmm, not so good for me.

Gives me one less excuse to visit relatives......:D

I was in Korea in November and was really impressed with the country. Took the high speed train to Busan, which was the way to go.

However, with all the high tech stuff going on there, I'm a bit surprised that the travel time on the aiport train is so slow - 43 minutes to go 58k is not very fast.

I was in Korea in November and was really impressed with the country. Took the high speed train to Busan, which was the way to go.

However, with all the high tech stuff going on there, I'm a bit surprised that the travel time on the aiport train is so slow - 43 minutes to go 58k is not very fast.



Probably they cannot make it faster because express trains share the same tracks with full-stop trains. If I understand correctly, express trains can pass full-stop trains at only two stations which are Gimpo Airport and Geomam.

I took the full-stop train from Gimpo Airport to Incheon Airport a couple of days ago, but have not tried between Gimpo Airport and Seoul Station.

Just returned from ICN yesterday and really enjoyed the A'REX Express trains! It was fast, fairly easy, and (unfortunately) lightly patronized both ways. I'll I'll probably include pictures and info in my Trip Report, to which I'll post a link here (hopefully this week).

I took the AREX from Seoul Station to Gimpo on Saturday night....local train took 23? minutes or so. Stops at Hongdae and Digital Media city or whatever.

I took the AREX in the opposite direction, I look line 9 to GMP (I only live 3 stops away on line 9), and then connected back to Seoul station on the AREX. It saved about 15 minutes of travel time, even though I backtracked to GMP.^^

Is the AREX Seoul station downtown near any (SPG/Hyatt) hotels? It seems like it would be easy to visit town on a 2 day stopover or even overnight?

Is the AREX Seoul station downtown near any (SPG/Hyatt) hotels? It seems like it would be easy to visit town on a 2 day stopover or even overnight?

It's like a 5-10 minute walk from the Seoul Millenium Hilton...

You can change to Line 9 at Gimpo Airport (its a cross platform transfer, maybe a 10m walk) which will take you across South Seoul in about 30 minutes to many other hotels in the Kangnam area.

I glimpsed (somewhere) that the trains run 7:00-21:00. Can anyone corroborate this?

I am not sure what train this is, but I took a train all the way from Express Bus Terminal (Line 9) to ICN Airport (Line 1) with only having to transfer once.
This was taken on December 26th. From what you have posted, it opened on the 28th, so are there two trains going to the Airport or was I just lucky to use it before the official opening?

December 29, 2010



So has anybody tried this yet? Sounds great and I look forward to using in in January.

Always good to see airports linked to their city with good public transport.

Good to hear the train is finally ready! I just came back from a trip there this past December. Loved it there. The airport buses are so convenient and cheap I probably wouldn't want to take a train (unless it was cheaper and even more convenient), but it offers a great alternative.

I am not sure what train this is, but I took a train all the way from Express Bus Terminal (Line 9) to ICN Airport (Line 1) with only having to transfer once.
This was taken on December 26th. From what you have posted, it opened on the 28th, so are there two trains going to the Airport or was I just lucky to use it before the official opening?



Line 1 does not go anywhere near ICN. The only one that serves ICN is Line A. So what you did was you took Line 9 from Express Bus Terminal to GMP and transferred on Line A to ICN. The sector between ICN and GMP on Line A has been in service for a few years. What is being discussed here is the sector between GMP and Seoul Station. If I remember correctly, the service commenced on 29th, not 28th.

Good to hear the train is finally ready! I just came back from a trip there this past December. Loved it there. The airport buses are so convenient and cheap I probably wouldn't want to take a train (unless it was cheaper and even more convenient), but it offers a great alternative.

ICN to Seoul Station has two options. 1) Express, 43 min, 13,300W. 2) Commuter, 53 min, 3,300W.

I might be off by a few hundred Won on either price, but the express is cheaper than the deluxe bus and the commuter is MUCH cheaper than the regular bus. Both offer time savings from Seoul Station.

Just trying to figure out what time the trains stop running as I'm looking at a 9PM arrival in ICN.

I believe that they stop running at either 2100 or 2130.

The train to Seoul Station makes sense mostly if connecting to the KTX or other Korea Rail trains. But as all the major hotels are connected via limousine bus I wouldn't say it's more convenient to reach any of them by train.

And please do remember that only the Busan bound KTX depart from Seoul Station, to get to Gwangju and Mokpo etc. still need to navigate to Yongsan.

The train to Seoul Station makes sense mostly if connecting to the KTX or other Korea Rail trains. But as all the major hotels are connected via limousine bus I wouldn't say it's more convenient to reach any of them by train.


Some of us don't stay at the 'major' hotels. For my purposes the APEX to line 1 is perfect for my choice of guesthouses (as well as eating tents/BBQ :D).

I'm posting this for general info/FYI:

http://www.airport.kr/iiacms/pageWork.iia?_scode=C1203020000&fake=1296095123428

The express train runs at 30 min past the hour from 5:30-21:30.

The commuter train begins at 5:20 and last train is at 23:21 if I'm reading the chart correctly. NB there's no indication if this chart is to or from ICN, though it could well be both.

ICN to Seoul Station has two options. 1) Express, 43 min, 13,300W. 2) Commuter, 53 min, 3,300W.

I might be off by a few hundred Won on either price, but the express is cheaper than the deluxe bus and the commuter is MUCH cheaper than the regular bus. Both offer time savings from Seoul Station.

Just trying to figure out what time the trains stop running as I'm looking at a 9PM arrival in ICN.

Commuter train only costs 3300W from ICN to Seoul station?! Ok, that's definitely cheaper than the airport limousine buses. That is indeed a bargain, considering it costs 900-1200W minimum on the subway just to go a few stations. ICN to Seoul is quite a ways. I paid 9000W for the bus one way, but as MOSBURGER stated (mmmm, loved the MOS Burger restaurants throughout HK and Taiwan I tried during my trip :) ), the airport bus took us literally door-to-door to the hotel. The driver even insisted on loading up our luggage and unloading it upon arrival. That was very nice considering it was freezing when we went there. The airport bus, though, took over 1 hour from the airport, so the new express train is definitely faster and cheaper for you since it stops near where you are staying. Too bad it closes at 9:30pm...Seems a little early as the subways run til past midnight.

In any case, report back on how everything goes. Enjoy your trip.

Commuter train only costs 3300W from ICN to Seoul station?! ....... The airport bus, though, took over 1 hour from the airport, so the new express train is definitely faster and cheaper for you since it stops near where you are staying. Too bad it closes at 9:30pm...Seems a little early as the subways run til past midnight.

In any case, report back on how everything goes. Enjoy your trip.

The commuter train, from the link, has it's last departure at 23:21. So there are trains later to Seoul Station, just not the express. The commuter trains run after most of the airport buses have ceased operations for the night!!!!

A few experiences now with the newish train, mostly from and to GMP:

- Connecting at Seoul Station to other public transport or even taxis is quite poorly organized. The schlep with luggage is a bit too much in many cases

- Is the track lacking in stability or similar as the train speed is so low? Would there be a catastrophe if it would run at 200km/h?

- The train terminal at ICN is very nice with lots of shopping opportunities. Actually a bit better than the lanside part of the main terminal

- Do calculate in extra time at both GMP, ICN and also Seoul Station as the train terminus is so deep underground that it takes considerable time to get to ground level

A few experiences now with the newish train, mostly from and to GMP:

- Connecting at Seoul Station to other public transport or even taxis is quite poorly organized. The schlep with luggage is a bit too much in many cases

- Is the track lacking in stability or similar as the train speed is so low? Would there be a catastrophe if it would run at 200km/h?

- The train terminal at ICN is very nice with lots of shopping opportunities. Actually a bit better than the lanside part of the main terminal

- Do calculate in extra time at both GMP, ICN and also Seoul Station as the train terminus is so deep underground that it takes considerable time to get to ground level

Only having done the r/t once I agree with the above. For a pictorial perspective check out this trip report (http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/arex-between-icn-and-seoul-station.6761/).

- Is the track lacking in stability or similar as the train speed is so low? Would there be a catastrophe if it would run at 200km/h?



They are in the process of upgrading this line to accommodate KTX trains in a couple of years. Once everything is setup, service speed is expected to be 180km/h. But even with the upgrade, you will see some speed restrictions on Yeongjong Bridge and (perhaps) Magok Bridge due to heavy gust.

The driver even insisted on loading up our luggage and unloading it upon arrival. That was very nice considering it was freezing when we went there.

No tipping required. ^

They are in the process of upgrading this line to accommodate KTX trains in a couple of years.

That would be a big surprise for me as normally Korean companies use domestic price cartels as a fundament for funding overseas expansion. Would KE and OZ plus their paid friends in government really approve such competition for their domestic flights minus Jeju?

That would be a big surprise for me as normally Korean companies use domestic price cartels as a fundament for funding overseas expansion. Would KE and OZ plus their paid friends in government really approve such competition for their domestic flights minus Jeju?



First, ICN gets around only five domestic flights a day, so there is no competition between KTX and domestic flights at ICN. Second, did you know that KE and OZ (especially KE) lose millions of USD to maintain domestic flights? They use their international profits to fund domestic operations, not the other way around. KE stated that even if they wanted to pull out much of their domestic operations, they could not because the domestic operations were considered as a public service, or sort of. Doing so would damage their corporate image to the public.

First, ICN gets around only five domestic flights a day, so there is no competition between KTX and domestic flights at ICN. Second, did you know that KE and OZ (especially KE) lose millions of USD to maintain domestic flights? They use their international profits to fund domestic operations, not the other way around. KE stated that even if they wanted to pull out much of their domestic operations, they could not because the domestic operations were considered as a public service, or sort of. Doing so would damage their corporate image to the public.

Interesting information. I wonder if the Korean government imposes some sort of price control on domestic flights? I have flown a fair amount domestically in Korea (both KE and OZ), and almost to a flight, they are all full. If I have a chance to grab an earlier (or later flight), I am usually put on the waitlist. I usually do clear, but am not normally able to get a seat right off the bat.