South Korea is launching a high-speed train that will cut travel times between central Seoul and its outskirts, and officials working on the project hope it will encourage more young people to consider living outside the city and thus increase the birth rate. , reported Reuters.
South Korea has the world’s lowest birth rate, and young people there often cite long commutes and cramped, expensive housing in the sprawling center of Seoul, home to about half the capital’s population, as the main reasons they don’t marry and they don’t start families.
Seoul’s birth rate is even lower than the national average, and the government has tried to increase the number of newborns through subsidies, but with little success.
Authorities are now pinning their hopes on the “Great Train Express (GTX),” a 134 trillion won ($99.5 billion) underground high-speed train project that by 2035 will connect six lines from Seoul to several remote area.
Today, President Yoon Suk-yeol inaugurated part of the first line, which will cut travel time from the capital’s Suseo district to the nearby city of Dongtan to 19 minutes from the current 80 minutes by bus.
The shorter commute “will allow people to spend more time with their family in the morning and evening,” he said.
The line is due to open tomorrow, and once fully operational, GTX will be one of the fastest underground systems in the world, with trains traveling at speeds of up to 180 km per hour, local government officials said.
Housing in South Korea is expensive, with average prices peaking in June 2021 after rising 45% in five years. It is particularly expensive in Seoul, where the price per square meter is one of the worst of any advanced economy, analysts say.
Minister of State Lands, Infrastructure and Transport Park Sang-woo told Reuters that GTX would allow young people to consider living away from the capital without having to spend hours commuting. The time they will save they will be able to use to be with their families, he added.
“With a two-hour commute home, for example, how can anyone make time for babies? The idea is to give people more free time after work,” he said.
However, some analysts believe that GTX could contribute to the decline of rural South Korea by drawing more people to the already overcrowded capital.
“To revive regional cities that are on the verge of extinction, the important thing is to provide other areas with a similar kind of public infrastructure,” said Kim Jin-yu, a professor of urban planning and transportation engineering at Gyeonggi University.
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