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GTX-A Unjeong-Seoul Line Beats Forecast at 64,000 Weekday Riders; Samseong Bypass Unlikely This Year

Published Oct 27, 2026

GTX-A's Unjeong Jungang-Seoul Station section carried 64,137 riders on weekdays in July, 128% of the forecast of 50,037. The Samseong bypass that would join the two lines is unlikely to open this year.

64,000 on weekdays, weekends at 1.5 times forecast

July figures reported by Railway Economy News on Oct. 26 put GTX-A's daily average at 82,697. Unjeong Jungang-Seoul Station beat its 50,037 weekday forecast with 64,137, and weekends hit 61,290 against 30,929, about 157%.

Suseo-Dongtan reached 20,894 on weekdays, 97% of forecast, and 88% on weekends.

21.5 minutes to Seoul Station, from 5:30 a.m.

Unjeong Jungang-Seoul Station runs 282 trips a day and takes 21.5 minutes, with a train every 6.25 minutes at peak and every 9 off-peak, from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Seoul Station handles about 31% of daily riders, ahead of Unjeong Jungang (15%) and KINTEX (12%). Cumulative ridership passed 40 million on June 25.

Passengers on the GTX-A platform at Seoul Station

The full line stalls at Samseong

The plan was to open the full line around August by letting trains pass Samseong without stopping, linking Seoul and Suseo (13.7 km). Missing rebar in fifth-level basement columns at the Samseong site halted work, and since May 28 the Korean Concrete Institute has been reviewing reinforcement options. The method is due within 2026, and Railway Economy News says a non-stop opening this year is effectively unlikely.

The Yeongdong-daero transfer complex is scheduled for completion in October 2028.

146.8 billion won in compensation, and a dispute

According to Joongbu Ilbo, the transport ministry paid operator SG Rail 146.8 billion won in loss compensation from January 2025 to September 2026. The ministry says the 75 billion won paid after the rebar omission was confirmed is Seoul's responsibility and will file a recourse claim. Seoul replies that it agreed to the August non-stop pass with the ministry, so payments through July are unrelated to the rebar issue.

Dongtan to Seoul Station takes about 80 minutes today against a planned 32. A 2024 Gyeonggi Research Institute estimate puts Goyang to Gangnam at 95.7 minutes at peak.

Sources & context

2026-10-27T02:19:01.553Z

Railway Economy News (Oct. 26, 2026) ↗Joongbu Ilbo (Oct. 20, 2026) ↗Wikimedia Commons ↗Wikimedia Commons ↗Wikimedia Commons ↗

Photo credit

Trainholic (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 4.0

A GTX-A car, A702, on display at an exhibition hall (2023; not a photo of current service). Trainholic / CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons