Uiwang City Initiates Plans for Uiwang Station Railroad Undergrounding

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park Chan-hyuk] Uiwang City held a kickoff meeting for 'Uiwang Station Section Undergrounding and Upper-Level Development Strategy Formulation' at the city hall conference room on the 18th.

The meeting was attended by Mayor Kim Seong-je, City Council Member Park Hye-sook, experts in urban planning, railroads, and transportation sectors, and related research project officials. The session included discussions and opinions on urban planning methods related to Uiwang Station undergrounding and its socio-economic impacts.

This project was pursued following the enactment of a special law on integrated railroad undergrounding development in January 2024, driven by the growing necessity for long-term urban planning to reconnect divided living areas and restore connectivity of urban spaces severed by railroads.

The city plans to more carefully examine upper-level development around Uiwang Station to establish it as a core urban space where residential, commercial, and cultural functions are harmonized.

At the meeting, reflecting the characteristics of Uiwang Station with its wide railroad plot, a project type was presented that would proceed with an 'artificial ground (deck)' method similar to that in Busan and Daejeon, which were recently selected as leading railroad undergrounding districts, instead of completely undergrounding Uiwang Station.

Notably, a city official explained that "previous railroad undergrounding project analysis conducted by Gyeonggi Province concluded that the area near Uiwang Station would be best suited for undergrounding through three-dimensional development using artificial ground (decks) similar to deck construction."

Mayor Kim Seong-je stated, "The status of Uiwang Station is expected to rise further through the third new city of Uiwang, Gunpo, and Ansan, the GTX-C line stop, and undergrounding," and urged officials to "do their utmost in project execution through networking with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Korea Railroad Corporation, and related field experts so that the Uiwang Station section can be included in the Ministry's 'Comprehensive Railroad Undergrounding Plan.'"