SOUTH KOREA LAUNCHES FIRST BULLET TRAIN SERVICE.

SEOUL, April 1 Asia Pulse - South Korea began commercial operation of its bullet trains, called KTX, after 12 years of construction work as the first train left Seoul for Busan early Thursday morning.

The departure of the KTX No. 74 at 5:05 a.m at Seoul Station opened the nation's high-speed railways between Seoul and Busan and between Seoul and Mokpo.

The two-stage mammoth project requiring 18.43 trillion won (US$15.96 billion) began in June 1992, with a section connecting the cities of Cheonan and Daejeon.

On the Seoul-Busan route, bullet trains operate 64 times a day, 20 times on the Seoul-Dongdaegu section and 10 times on the Seoul-Daejeon section.

The travel time is 34 minutes from Seoul to Cheonan, 49 minutes from Seoul to Daejeon, one hour and 39 minutes from Seoul to Dongdaegu and 2 hours and 40 minutes from Seoul to Busan.

KTX trains run at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour, sharply cutting the travel time between Seoul and Busan from the four-and-a-half hours on the fastest express trains previously.

The one-way fares are 11,400 won (US$10) between Seoul and Cheonan, 92 kilometers south of Seoul, ...