Uijeongbu LRT & Bus Route Information
View from the end of Uijeongbu's new '문화거리' (more on that later)
When I came to Uijeongbu in August 2007 a series of cement pillars were being erected around town -- the start of what will eventually become a Véhicule Automatique Léger (VAL; automatic light vehicle) system. This type of light rail system is fully automated (unmanned) and unique for using rubber-tired people mover technology, along with synchronized sliding doors between the cars and platform to prevent passengers from falling onto the rollways (tracks). Construction of the Uijeongbu LRT (의정부경전철) began in July 2007 and should finish in 2011 if everything goes according to plan -- different sources list April, August, and September as the date when the line will be open to the public.
VAL lines have already gone up in Lille (where the original name - Villeneuve d'Ascq à Lille - comes from), Turin, Chicago, and Taipei; the Uijeongbu LRT will become the twelfth such system in the world. Siemens Transportation Systems (TS) is one of six partners involved in the project, with their share of the work worth 140 million Euros. The elevated line will feature 15 two-unit vehicles traveling between 14 stations on the 10.6km route, connecting with Line 1 of the Seoul Metro at 회룡역 (Hoeryong Station).
One thing that I find somewhat amusing - and certainly interesting - about all of this is that information about the VAL was only added to the English-language Wikipedia page in October, while details in French have been available since January 2007. Even now, the route map used on the English-language page lists all the stations by their French names rather than the English equivalents. Guess I should spend some time going through and adding content to the Uijeongbu page rather than snickering over how much better the French page seems in that regard.
While Line 1 of the metro system connects the city on a north-south axis and offers access to Seoul to the south and both Yangju and Dongducheon in the north, the new VAL system will bridge the city on a primarily east-west axis -- running from Millak-dong (민락동) in the east to Buyong Elementary School in the west. As mentioned above, there will be a (somewhat) direct connection with Line 1 at Hoeryong, while other stops should be relatively close to Uijeongbu Station (Line 1), Jangam Station (Line 7), and the Intercity Bus Terminal. Jungang Station will be in the downtown core of the city and is the location of the new 문화거리 (Culture Street) that I hope to discuss at some point in the next couple of days.
Until the city's VAL is finished the easiest way to get around town is by bus. Fortunately, the Korea Tourism Organization website has a section dedicated to bus routes in Uijeongbu (as well as other cities in Gyeonggi-do). Each route on the main page includes the first and last stops as well as significant points along the way; clicking on a route number will take you to a screen that includes the start and end times for buses on that route, an 'interval' of how long passengers should expect to wait between buses, and a map function that I haven't gotten working yet. For anyone who has a general idea of where they need to go - and doesn't want to take a taxi - the site might come in handy as a reference tool, especially for checking bus times.