Wirye-Sinsa line, subway lines 3 and 9, city bus routes among requests
Hanam Mayor Lee Hyeon-jae met with Kim Yong-seok, chairman of the Metropolitan Area Transport Commission, on Tuesday to urge that the Hanam extension of the Wirye-Sinsa subway line be included in the commission's fifth metropolitan transport implementation plan, and to press for extensions of subway lines 3 and 9.
At the meeting, Lee said residents of the Hanam portion of Wirye new town have contributed 125.6 billion won ($90.8 million) — 23 percent of the total rail improvement fund — yet remain cut off from rail services including the Wirye-Sinsa line, amounting to serious transport discrimination. The new town spans three municipalities: Seoul's Songpa district and Gyeonggi Province's Seongnam and Hanam. Eleven years after residents began moving in, Lee called on the commission to include the proposed 5-kilometer Hanam extension of the Wirye-Sinsa line in its fifth metropolitan transport implementation plan, noting that a petition signed by 18,637 residents had been submitted to the commission and related agencies in October last year.
Lee also asked the commission to ensure the on-time opening of the Songpa-Hanam Line — a Line 3 extension running 11.7 kilometers from Ogeum Station to Hanam City Hall Station — by the 2032 target date, to minimize transport disruption when the first apartments in the Gyosan new town begin welcoming residents in June 2029, with 12,000 households expected to move in.
Lee also requested that several design and construction details for the Line 3 extension be incorporated into the basic and detailed engineering plans: an entrance extension at Gamil Station 101 (in front of Dansaem Elementary School); a vertical transfer connection and a pedestrian deck with moving walkways — via the shortest possible route — linking Gyosan Station 104 (Mannam-ui Gwangjang) with the Dream rest stop and the original town center; and a reduction in the underground depth of Station 104 from 50 meters to 20 meters, along with cost-saving design measures.
Regarding the Gangdong-Hanam-Namyangju Line — a Line 9 extension spanning 17.59 kilometers — Lee urged swift support in selecting a contractor for the second construction section, between Misa and Dasan, after four consecutive failed bids.
Lee also stressed the need for an early opening of the Gangil-to-Misa segment by using the turnaround track at Station 944, tentatively named Sinmisa Station, given that more than 188,000 people live in the Gangil and Misa areas of Seoul and Hanam. He further proposed installing a 580-meter underground pedestrian passage toward Gusanseongji and extending station entrances toward nearby apartment complexes — units 2, 3 and 6 — to improve rail access for roughly 17,000 residents outside the eastern pedestrian zone of Misa.
Lee additionally asked the commission to follow through on a plan it announced in July 2024 to connect bus route 31, serving the Wirye and Gamil new towns, with Macheon Station — a measure the commission had presented as part of its strategy to improve transport convenience in the eastern greater Seoul area.
"Hanam has four new towns — Misa, Wirye, Gamil and Gyosan — but poor connectivity between them has left residents' daily lives fragmented," Lee said. "About 60 percent of new-town residents commute to Seoul, yet the shortage of subway and bus services makes that commute a serious burden. Expanding the metropolitan rail network is urgent." He called for special attention and cooperation on including the Wirye-Sinsa Hanam extension in the fifth plan and on advancing the Line 3 and Line 9 extension issues.
Kim said the commission was "carefully reviewing" the Hanam extension of the Wirye-Sinsa line and pledged to "actively manage" the timely opening of the Line 3 and Line 9 extensions.
Meanwhile, Hanam plans to continue pressing for broader rail network expansion, including pursuing a meeting with Second Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-seon to seek inclusion of the GTX-D route — passing through Hwangsan and Gyosan — in the fifth national railway network construction plan.
pjh@heraldcorp.com
