SOUTH KOREA: The municipality of Seoul has announced that test runs will start this month for the 5·4 km Wirye Line tramway, with opening scheduled for the second half of next year.
Test runs are to be carried out at Korea Railroad Research Institute’s Osong test track, aiming to bring trams back to Seoul after the last section’s closure in 1968.
The catenary-free tramway is to serve 12 stops, giving access to the centre of Wirye which lies in the southeast of the conurbation. Trams will run southbound from the Macheon terminus of metro Line 5, then branch either south to Namwirye on metro Line 8, or west to Bokjeong on Line 8 and the Suin-Bundang Line, which was created in 2020 through the merger of the Suin and Bundang suburban lines.
Construction work on the Wirye Line started in 2023.
Battery trams
Woojin Industrial Systems is supplying 10 battery trams to operate the service.
The low-floor trams are 2·65 m wide and feature large-capacity batteries mounted on the roof, and both high and low-level headlights. They are also equipped with a collision warning system that combines radar and camera sensors to warn the driver when an obstacle is detected and activate the emergency brake if there is no response.
The lavender colour of the vehicles was selected by citizens through a local poll.
The tram vehicle is now due to complete 5 000 km of comprehensive tests at KRRI’s facility, focusing on vehicle performance, safety, acceleration, braking, driving ability at sharp curves, the performance of communication and signalling systems, ride comfort, noise and vibration. Upon completion the tram will continue test running on the Wirye Line from the end of the year.
