Official opening of the first high speed railway line in
Korea

On Tuesday 30 March 2004, in Seoul station, South Korea, Goh
Kun, the Prime


Minister of the Republic of South Korea, officially opened the
first high speed railway


line in Korea, the KTX 'Korea Train eXpress', between Seoul and
Pusan. The Prime


Minister conducted the ceremony in the presence of many
dignitaries, including


Nicole Fontaine, French Minister for Industry, Kim Se Ho, the
President of


Korail, KNR, the national railway operator, Louis Gallois,
President of France's


national railway operator, SNCF, and Patrick Kron, Chairman and
Chief Executive


Officer of ALSTOM.

The KTX will begin revenue service on 1April 2004. The 46
high speed KTX trainsets will cover the 412 km between Seoul
(North-West Korea) and Pusan (South-East Korea) in 2h40 minutes
instead of the 4h10 which the traditional Saemaul trains take.
The KTX will also link Seoul and Mokpo (SouthWest Korea) in
2h58 instead of the current 4h42 over 407,6 km.


KORAL (Korean National Railroad) is expecting a significant
increase in passengers between Seoul and Pusan once the new
high speed line is opened: from 223 000 to 314 000 per day.

Unprecedented transfer of technology and know-how


between France and Korea

Initially, three railway manufacturers were in competition
to supply the rolling stock : Siemens with the ICE, Mitsubishi
with the Shinkhansen and ASTOM with the TGV.  French
technology was finally chosen in 1994 and the rolling stock
provided is derived from the TGV trains operating on the French
network.


In choosing the French high speed train system, South Korea has
become the first country in Asia to use French technology for
mainline railway operations.

In 2002, following ALSTOM's technology transfer, Korean
manufacturers delivered the first 'made in Korea' KTX trainset,
based on TGV technology developed by ALSTOM and the SNCF, and
widely service-proven by the SNCF in France.


The scope of the technology transfer that ALSTOM provided to
Korea, now 100% complete, covered rolling stock manufacturing
and technical training and support of Korean engineers. The
training was carried out in France, and comprised detail
drawing,  process designing, alignment of manufacturing
facilities, key parts manufacturing and testing, and quality
control.

The technology transfer also included technical support from
French engineers to Korean companies  (plant planning,
production facility establishment, welding, manufacturing,
assembly and tests).


Out of a total of 46 trains, 34 were manufactured locally with
technical assistance and training, beginning in October 1998.
All trainsets underwent testing, under ALSTOM and Eukorail
responsibility, on the test section of the Korean high-speed
line and have been officially accepted by KHRC.


The operations complexity was mainly due to the
high-technology content of the products transferred. The
technology transfer began with transferring and updating
approximately 350,000 high speed train documents: drawings,
specifications, manufacturing documents, procedures, purchasing
documents, and training documents. Then came the training of
Korean engineers to use them: more than 1000 Koreans were
trained in France; over 400 French engineers provided
assistance to the Korean production.


On average, 50 railway experts per year from the SNCF Group's
subsidiaries, SYSTRA and SNCF International have worked in
South Korea since 1994. They have been involved all through the
development of the project.


With SYSTRA, for example, they have provided their assistance
to the design and supervision of the civil engineering works,
supervised the track laying, defined the maintenance plan and
drawn up the maintenance and driving documentation.


Under the control of SNCF International, they have also
assisted Korean railways in the electrification of the lines
which extend the high speed line, and also supervised the
testing of the 46 KTX trainsets and ensured their qualification
for service.


Georges Devaux, Director of the TGV Meditérranée
project, supported by 6 experts, has been advising the South
Korean railways operator, Korail, in the implementation of the
project.


Almost 600 members of Korail have been trained in France and in
Korea in all aspects of high speed rail operations : driving a
TGV, signalling, catenary systems, tracks, maintenance of
rolling stock, traffic management, safety management, passenger
information systems, marketing and commercialisation.

The design study of the new TGV station in Gwangmyeong have
been carried out by the subsidiary AREP, under the leadership
of architects Jean-Marie Duthilleul, Etienne Tricaud and Eric
Dussiot.

This massive transfer of know-how to South Korea gives
ALSTOM and the SNCF Group unparalleled experience. It should
lead to a real success for the Korean economy and a great
improvement in the daily life of the Korean people, just as it
has in France and in Europe.


The KTX is the flagship for French railway know-how in Asia,
particularly in the context of the high speed rail projects in
China

For background information about the project and high
definition photographs that can be downloaded, please see :

http://www.webmag.transport.alstom.com/KTX-inauguration.html