Saemaeul-ho
class of passenger train operated by Korail
The Saemaeul-ho, formerly known as the Saemaul-ho and Saemaul Express, was a class of train operated by Korail, the national railroad of South Korea, since February 8, 1969. Before the introduction of the KTX express trains, the Saemaeul-ho was the fastest class of trains in South Korea, making the journey from Seoul to Busan in less than 5 hours. After the introduction of the KTX and ITX-Saemaeul, Saemaeul-ho trains were gradually retired on most lines, with the last Saemaeul-ho trains on the Janghang Line being retired in 2018.
Saemaeul-ho trains were distinguished from the more basic Mugunghwa-ho trains by their larger and comfortable seats and the absence of standing passengers. Trains were also distinguished from the Mugunghwa-ho trains by their colour; typical Saemaeul train passenger cars are painted in red and black. In the past, Saemaeul passenger cars were painted in green, blue, and yellow. The length of a Saemaeul train varied from 5 cars to 12 cars, either as one or two sets; certain Saemaeul-ho trains that ran from Seoul to Busan separated at Gupo station, with one half travelling along the Bujeon Line and Donghae Nambu Line to Haeundae, and the travelling down the main Gyeongbu Line to Busan station.
The Saemaeul-ho took its name from the Saemaul Undong, a movement for rural revitalization spearheaded by Park Chung-hee in the 1970s.
The Saemaeul-ho class started to be phased out by the ITX-Saemaeul starting on May 12, 2014. The new ITX-Saemaeul trains have a faster average speed of 150 kilometers per hour, and replaced the older Saemaeul trains gradually until April 30, 2018 when the last traditional Saemaeul-ho train ran between Iksan and Yongsan on the Janghang Line.
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This entry incorporates text from “Saemaeul-ho” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.