The Honam Line is a major railway line serving the

Honam Honam (; literally "south of the lake") is a region coinciding with the former Jeolla Province in what is now South Korea. Today, the term refers to Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, Jeju Province and Jeonbuk State. The name "Jeonla-do" is used i ...

region (

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Jeolla Provinces) in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. The line is served by frequent passenger trains from

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

(via the Gyeongbu Line) to

Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...

and

Mokpo Mokpo (; ) is the List of cities in South Korea, third largest and most densely populated city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, located at the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula, close to Yudal mountain. Mokpo has frequent high-speed ...

History

A Honam Railway from Seoul to Mokpo was first proposed in 1896 by a French company. After the start of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, in May 1904,

Imperial Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

forced Korea to sign an agreement granting the Japanese military control over railways, including the right to seize land. Japan then seized much of the fertile Honam plain in advance of a planned Honam Line. The construction of the line started in 1910. The first between Daejeon and Yeonsan was opened in July 1911. The line was extended to Ganggyeong in November 1911, to Iri (today

Iksan Iksan (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city and major railway junction in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. The city center and railway junction was formerly called "Iri" (), but merged with Iksan County (''Iksan-gun'') in 19 ...

) in March 1912, to Gimje in October 1912 and to Jeongeup in December 1912. Construction continued from the other end of the line, with the section from Mokpo to Hakgyo (today Hampyeong) opened in May 1913; and extended to Naju in July 1913, to Songjeong-ri (today Gwangju·Songjeong) in October 1913, and finally to Jeongeup, completing the line on January 11, 1914.

Upgrade

Duplication

The Honam Line was upgraded to an electrified and double-tracked line for higher speeds in stages. The construction of the double track began on January 4, 1968. On March 30, 1978, the section from Daejeonjochajang station to Iksan station via Seodaejeon station was double-tracked. The double-track work for the section south of Iksan station on the Honam Line began in February 1981, and the double-track work was completed to Songjeong-ri station in Gwangju on September 6, 1988. Double-tracking of the last remaining single-track section, Songjeong–Mokpo, and the electrification of the whole line, including the Gwangju spur, was finished for the start of Korea Train Express (KTX) services on April 1, 2004. The present line length from Daejeon to Mokpo is , the line distance from Seoul to Mokpo is .

Speeding-up upgrade

To serve KTX and SRT, section from GwangjuSongjeong to Gomagwon was upgraded to accomplish maximum speed of 230 km/h. Total length of the project is 25.9 km and it was completed in June 2020.

Major stations

Major stations and junctions along the line include: * Daejeon, junction with the Gyeongbu Line to

and

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

; * Seodaejeon, the Daejeon passenger station for Honam Line trains; *

(formerly named ''Iri''), the terminus of the Jeolla and Janghang Lines; * GwangjuSongjeong, the major station in

for through trains to

, and the junction with the Gyeongjeon Line; * Naju, the major station in Naju; *

, a

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

on the south coast.

Services

The Honam Line is served by freight trains, as well as cross-country Mugunghwa-ho, intercity ITX-Saemaeul/MAUM and high-speed KTX passenger trains. As of October 2024, the minimum travel time from Yongsan Station in Seoul to Mokpo in South Jeolla Province is at least 4 hours and 20 minutes for ITX-MAUM and at least 5 hours and 14 minutes for Mugunghwa. Even on the Honam Line from Seodaejeon to Mokpo itself, the travel time is at least 2 hours and 34 minutes for ITX-MAUM and at least 3 hours and 4 minutes for Mugunghwa.

References

{{Authority control Railway lines in South Korea Railway lines opened in 1914