Subway Line 7's Jangam Station to close for a month starting Oct. 2

Jangam Station on subway Line 7 will suspend operations from Oct. 2 to Oct. 30 to accommodate construction of the Dobongsan–Okjeong metropolitan railway. During that period, Line 7 trains will run only as far as Dobongsan Station, the stop before Jangam.

Gyeonggi Province on Monday announced a plan titled "Jangam Station closure and alternative transportation arrangements," saying it will operate free shuttle buses between the Dobongsan Station transfer center, the main gate of the Dobong vehicle depot and the Jangam Station stop from 5 a.m. to midnight throughout the closure. Buses will run every seven to 15 minutes on weekdays and every 10 to 20 minutes on weekends and public holidays.

Additional on-site guides will be stationed at Dobongsan Station to direct passengers to the shuttle bus boarding area. The province plans to publicize the closure schedule and alternative transport options in advance through the websites of Gyeonggi Province, Uijeongbu and Yangju, as well as through banners.

The closure is necessary to build a new Jangam Station as part of the Dobongsan–Okjeong metropolitan railway project. The current Jangam Station, the terminal stop on Line 7, operates as a basic station inside the Dobong vehicle depot. The province plans to demolish the existing station and build a new one within the depot to connect with the new metropolitan railway line.

A temporary Jangam Station will be set up on a site next to the current station's entrance to keep train service running during the demolition and construction period. The province said the roughly one-month closure is required because trial runs must be completed before actual service begins at the temporary station.

Pre-inspection of the temporary Jangam Station will begin Sept. 21. The province will conduct field-by-field checks of track, signal and communications facilities through Sept. 30, then connect the new track leading to the temporary station to the existing line on Oct. 2, the first day of the closure. Facility relocation, joint inspections and supplementary work will continue through Oct. 24. A revenue trial run — operating trains under conditions identical to normal service — will be carried out from Oct. 25 to Oct. 30, with the temporary Jangam Station set to open Oct. 31.

"This closure is an essential step to verify the safety of the temporary Jangam Station before demolishing the current one and continuing construction of the new station," said Park Young-shin, head of Gyeonggi Province's railway construction division. "We will work with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Metro to shorten the construction period as much as possible and minimize inconvenience to passengers by running free shuttle buses."

The Dobongsan–Okjeong metropolitan railway is a single-track electrified rail project spanning 15.1 kilometers from Dobongsan Station in Seoul through Jangam and Tapseok stations in Uijeongbu to the Goeup district in Yangju. The line will have three stations, and the total project cost is 893.5 billion won ($657 million). As of the end of August, overall construction progress stood at 62.44 percent.