By Here is the new train that will be constructed to bring passengers from the airport to Seoul:
The government has unveiled a magnetic levitation train that will operate at Incheon International Airport starting in 2013.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs performed a test run of the next-generation train at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials in Daejeon on Monday.
In 2006, the nation launched a project to build unmanned magnetic levitation trains that can travel up to 110 kilometers per hour. The government has injected a total of 450 billion won into the project.
By 2013, such next-generation trains will operate on a six-point-one-kilometer railway at Incheon International Airport. The railway will be the second of its kind in the world.
Magnetic levitation trains run on a track using the power of electromagnets instead of steel wheels. Such trains are considered to be more comfortable as they shake less and are less noisy than ordinary trains. [KBS Global]
The train currently running from the airport to Seoul hasn’t been around all that long which leads me to wonder why didn’t they just construct the magnetic train from the start?
11:08 am on May 3rd, 2010 1
The same reason they put down a brand new road then dig it up a month later to lay pipes?
2:12 pm on May 3rd, 2010 2
Japanese dinosaur number 10!
2:35 pm on May 3rd, 2010 3
At least they put down something. What about the US?
Everything breaking down, smelly, rotted, bombed out, and worse than the third world.
6:48 pm on May 3rd, 2010 4
GI obviously lacks comprehension skills. The track does NOT go to Seoul. That is still the ARex. This new maglev is just going around the airport (either taking people to/from gates or around the surrounds). It never once mentions the train going to Seoul and I’ve got no idea how GI could have come up with that conclusion.
7:17 pm on May 3rd, 2010 5
This just shows me the government has more money than brains. The AREX is a disaster – no one rides it, subsidy level through the roof. Why do they need a maglev running around Incheon ? To do what ? What will it do, that currently is not done ?
8:18 pm on May 3rd, 2010 6
Impress the Japanese.
8:37 pm on May 3rd, 2010 7
“Impress the Japanese.
”
9:27 pm on May 3rd, 2010 8
Every time Tom posts something here, I get the image of Pak Ing (the guy on the right in the video) run through my mind.
9:32 pm on May 3rd, 2010 9
US infrastructure is like a “developing country’s”, says the terminator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byPD8wJexfs
But you see governor, you’re an idiot. You guys can’t even pay for train conductor’s salaries, let alone a high speed rail.
You guys are broke@! 
beyond belief.. 
How do you expect to pay for them? 
With $13 trillion in foreign debt, and $60 trillion in liabilities to health care and social security promises coming due, you guys are bankrupt.
You shouldn’t laugh too hard at others, because everybody’s laughing at you. 
10:01 pm on May 3rd, 2010 10
It doesn’t run around Incheon, either. Let’s get this straight. No Seoul and no Incheon. Just the bridge between Incheon and the airport is longer than this maglev track will be.
Incheon airport is on an island. The airport is relatively large, the island larger still, and i daresay it could use a low impact, efficient transport system coz the buses there are lacking. Doubtless it won’t be profitable in and of itself, of course, but for a nation famous for its subway construction (no “jokes” about fire regs and Daegu, please), maglev is something that Korean companies look to be primed for getting into.
11:33 pm on May 3rd, 2010 11
“The train currently running from the airport to Seoul hasn’t been around all that long which leads me to wonder why didn’t they just construct the magnetic train from the start?”
Kickbacks?
12:40 pm on May 21st, 2010 12
I think AREX ridership will take off once the Gimpo to Seoul Station portion opens later this year – currently only half of the AREX line is in operation. I have read that you may be able to check your bags at Seoul Station and then ride the train from there without having do deal with lugging bags around. Sounds like a good deal to me…
5:24 pm on May 21st, 2010 13
Arex doesn't have a lot of ridership because it stops in western Seoul. Once it goes all the way to Seoul Station, where hook-ups to other neighborhoods throughout the capital would be easier, then there will be considerably more ridership.
My apartment is not far from Seoul Station, and one time for sh¡ts and giggles I took the Arex home instead of the limousine bus, and it took two or three times longer. Had the Arex gone all the way to Seoul Station, it would have been faster.