S-train adds more fun to southern region

Ocean, islands, and a train. Take your time meditating while enjoying a tea inside a train where you can also enjoy fresh seafood.

Tourists can enjoy a quality train trip starting this November, as Korail will introduce the new S-train tourism program which will guide passengers through the southern part of Korea. The name “S-train” originates from “south” and the curvy shape of the South Sea of Korea.

Korail will roll out the S-train this November (image courtesy of Korail).

Under the program, new turtle-themed trains will travel two routes -- from Busan to Yeosu and from Gwangju to Masan -- once a day with five cars which can accommodate up to 218 passengers.

The train which departs from Busan will travel a total of 250.7 kilometers to the venue of the Yeosu Expo via Gupo, Jinyeong, Masan, Jinju, Hadong, Suncheon, and Yeocheon. The other train which will depart from Gwangju will travel more than 260 kilometers to Masan via Nampyeong, Boseong, Deungnyang, Beolgyo, Suncheon, Bukcheon, and Jinju.

Passengers can enjoy a traditional Korean tea ceremony while sitting inside a tea room of the S-train (photo courtesy of Korail).

Passengers can enjoy their train travel, as each of the five passenger cars is built on different themes -- rooms for healing, family, cafeteria, tea, and leisure and sports. Korail expects that the cafeteria and tea room will win popularity among travelers, as these two cars are unique to the S-train. The train will delight food lovers as they can enjoy well-known Korean cuisines of the southern region at the cafeteria and experience a traditional Korean style tea ceremony with fragrant tea produced from the southern region in a tea room which will be introduced for the first time to Korean trains.

S-train passengers can also enjoy local festivals throughout the southern region as the train passes the venues of popular events like Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival scheduled from October 1 to 13, Beolgyo Cockle Festival, and Suncheon Bay Reeds Festival, both of which are to be held from October 25 to 27.

Nampyeong, one of the temporary stations of the S-train route, is a good place to take photos (photo courtesy of Korail).

Each of the stations along the train route, like Jinju, Hadong, Suncheon, Yeosu, Beolgyo, and Boseong, shows uniqueness of local culture and tourism with newly built tourism information centers, food, and other local specialty shops.

At Deungnyang station, one of the S-train stops, tourists can go back to the past while enjoying walking around a special street created with themes of the past (photo courtesy of Korail).

Korail has previously introduced train tourism programs called the O-train and V-train earlier this spring. The two trains have attracted about 130,000 people since opening this April. Thanks to the train programs, daily visitors to Buncheon and Yangwon, some of the temporary stops of the train routes, also rose from ten to 1,000.

By Jeon Han, Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
hanjeon@korea.kr

Source:Korea.net