[USFK Forums] Seoul needs info on N Korean railroads before project: KORAIL head

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, March 18, 2006

Seoul needs info on N Korean railroads before project: KORAIL head

2006/03/18 11:05

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, March 18 (Yonhap) -- More information on North Korea's railroad infrastructure is needed before Seoul can commit itself to help link trans-Korean and Siberian rail systems, a South Korean railroad official has said.

Lee Chul, president of state-run Korea Railroad Corp., said Friday after attending a two-day forum in Vladivostok that proposals have been made to utilize the potential of linking the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) and the Trans-Korean Railway (TKR).

But he noted the issue involves sensitive political and military problems between South and North Korea, which remain technically at war. A set of inter-Korean railroads has been completed but not yet put in service.

The Thursday-Friday meeting in Valadivosk, which involved the two Koreas and Russia, was the first of its kind. Delegates discussed ways to connect the railroads of the three countries and measures that can be taken to modernize North Korea's outdated rail system.

"The Russian side proposed the creation of a consortium to link the TSR and TKR, but South Korea needs more information on the state of North Korea's railroad," Lee said.

He said that even if the two rail systems are linked, it will not be commercially viable unless outdated rail tracks and bridges in North Korea are modernized.

Lee said North Korea and Russia had completed a survey on the North's railroad condition in 2001, but they have withheld details from South Korea.

South Korea hopes to transport its European-bound exports via the trans-Korean and Siberian railroads. It believes that the plan, if realized, would benefit North Korea and Russia as well.

The rail project, if realized, can also expect to boost inter-Korean relations. The two countries have yet to sign a peace treaty after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.

During this week's meeting, South Korea and Russia signed an agreement to share information on railway operations and passenger and freight services in their countries.

Under the agreement, Seoul and Moscow will create working-level consultative bodies to exchange technical and legal information about railroad operations.

Seoul, as the world's fifth operator of bullet trains, will share its experience, technologies and personnel training programs with Moscow, South Korean railroad officials said.

The 9,288-kilometer TSR which connects Vladivostok with Moscow, is the world's longest single stretch of railway. Linking with the TSR would provide South Korea with an overland route to Europe.

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