HEMU-250 bullet trains from Hyundai Rotem, the rolling stock manufacturing arm of Hyundai Motor Group, will travel on the Gyeongjeon Line (connecting Bujeon station in Busan and Masan, southern coastal cities of Korea), scheduled to open in 2020. In 2012, Hyundai Rotem domestically developed the self-propelled and electric-powered HEMU 250 (EMU-250), making South Korea the fourth nation in the world to develop a high-speed train.
Railroad industry sources said on May 22 that Hyundai Rotem won an open tender launched by state-owned Korea Railroad Corp. (Korail) to deliver 250 kilometer-per-hour class high-speed electric multiple unit (HEMU) trains. Under the deal, Hyundai Rotem will provide 30 HEMU 250 trains at 3.4 billion won per carriage, or 102 billion won in total.
“Hyundai Rotem has been named as the final successful bidder of the international tender on supplying high-speed trains for the Gyeongjeon Line. A formal contract will be signed and other procedures including making a down payment will proceed this week,” a Korail official said.
The deal is expected to pave the way for Hyundai Rotem to compete against China and Japan, two major high-speed train exporters, in the international bullet train bidding war.
