The Daegyeong Line, the first metropolitan railway outside the Seoul metropolitan area built by Daegu City, surpassed 872,000 passengers within a month of its opening. According to Daegu City on the 15th, the Daegyeong Line, which operates across the entire route from Gumi to Chilgok, Daegu, and Gyeongsan within an hour, has been used by a total of 872,000 people, with a daily average of 28,000 passengers from its opening on December 14 last year until January 13 this year. This is 59.9% of the initially predicted demand of 47,000 passengers.
On weekdays, an average of 26,123 people boarded, and 32,391 on weekends, with the highest transport day recorded on December 25 last year with 45,118 passengers. The stations with the highest numbers of boardings and alightings were Daegu Station and Gumi Station, with an average of 6,283 and 5,795 people per day, respectively.
Analysis shows that the Daegyeong Line has more passengers on holidays and during the day than during weekday commute times, unlike Daegu Metropolitan Subway Lines 1 and 2. There are more non-regular passengers drawn by curiosity, tourism, and shopping following the line’s opening. Daegu Station, connected with Dongseong-ro, accounts for 22.3% of the total transport, driving the Daegyeong Line’s usage.
Moreover, the ITX-Ma-eum and ITX-Saemaeul trains continue to operate as before, providing various transportation options for residents. The opening of the Daegyeong Line has expanded fare discounts and metropolitan transfer systems for seniors, people with disabilities, and other transportation-vulnerable groups from three municipalities (Daegu, Gyeongsan, Yeongcheon) to nine (Kimcheon, Gumi, Chilgok, Seongju, Goryeong, Cheongdo). With transfer discounts of 50% on city buses and subways, the use of the Daegyeong Line and metropolitan transfer discount system seems to be in the settling process.
Unlike traditional trains, the Daegyeong Line allows passengers to use transportation cards to board the first arriving train, making boarding and traveling convenient. Its short interval of three trains per hour is an advantage.
The Daegyeong Line, utilizing the spare capacity of the existing Gyeongbu Line tracks, is the first non-metropolitan area metropolitan railway, operated and managed by the Korean Railroad Corporation to quickly address commuting traffic demand with the urban expansion.
The Daegyeong Line, operated with two-car trains carrying 296 passengers, travels the entire Gumi to Chilgok, Daegu, and Gyeongsan route in under an hour, with up to 100 round trips a day. Heo Joon-seok, Daegu City’s Director of Transportation, stated, “We will strive for the Daegyeong Line to become a medium connecting Daegu and Gyeongbuk as one, further expanding the residents’ metropolitan living area.”