The opening of the first phase of Gwangju Metro Line 2 postponed to the end of 2028... All sections by 2035

(Jeonnam Gwangju = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Cheol-hong = The opening of the first stage of Gwangju Urban Railway Line 2 has been postponed again and is expected to be possible only at the end of 2028.

The target opening date for all sections up to the second stage was also postponed from 2030 to 2035.

According to the 'Comprehensive verification results of the current and remaining processes of Urban Railway Line 2' released by the Jeonnam Gwangju Unified Special City on the 1st, the possible opening of the first stage will be delayed from December 2027 to December 2028.

The first phase section was scheduled to open at the end of 2023 when construction began in 2019.

However, it was delayed to the end of 2024 due to delays in the initial process and construction difficulties, and was later postponed a total of four times, to the end of 2026, to the end of 2027, reflecting the follow-up process and commissioning schedule, etc.

Although there were unexpected on-site variables during the civil engineering process, such as bedrock and obstacles, the city judged that it was insufficient to comprehensively manage the entire process from architecture, machinery, electricity, communications, signals, vehicles, and test operations.

The second stage opening schedule will be further delayed.

The opening date for the entire 20km section, which runs through Gwangju Station - Chonnam National University - Ilgok - Yangsan - Cheomdan - Suwan District and back to City Hall, has been changed to December 2035.

The second phase was scheduled to open in 2029 when the project cost was readjusted in 2022, but it was delayed once to December 2030 due to repeated failed bids in sections 7 and 10 and some construction difficulties.

Considering the long-term delay in opening all sections, the city decided to review a plan to first open sections 11 to 14 (11.9 km), including Yangsan-dong - Cheomdan - Suwan - Shinga, and 9 stations in April 2034.

However, as it requires changes to the operation plan and an increase in the total project cost, we plan to decide whether to proceed through consultation with the central government.

It was found that the total project cost had increased significantly due to project delays and changes in design and construction methods.

The total project cost, which was initially 1.7394 trillion won, has now increased by 1.5036 trillion won to 3.243 trillion won.

Factors contributing to the increase included price rise at KRW 1.021 trillion, accounting for 66.6%, changes in construction methods at KRW 354.7 billion (23.6%), and reflection of detailed design results and site conditions at KRW 146.8 billion (9.8%).

Considering rising prices while the construction period is further extended, the project cost is expected to increase further until the entire section is opened in 2035.

The city has decided to integrate and manage the entire process based on the actual opening time and reorganize the annual investment plan.

In addition, the process status and opening preparation process will be disclosed every month, and the roads in the 2nd stage priority opening review section are planned to be opened by the first half of 2030.

Jeonnam Gwangju City formed a public-private task force (TF) to verify the overall project and decided to explain specific verification results and future measures on the 2nd.