Daily high-speed rail ridership in South Korea rose by nearly 34,000 passengers in the first month after Korail and SR merged their KTX and SRT operations under a single system, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and Korail reported on 1 October. The merger took effect on 1 September.

Average daily high-speed ridership from 1 to 27 September increased 11.9% year-on-year, according to MOLIT data. The Suseo corridor outpaced the network average with a 27.8% surge — a direct response to the seat shortage that had made Suseo Station the most constrained point on the network before integration.

To relieve that bottleneck, the government expanded Suseo's daily seat supply by approximately 16,000 seats, roughly 30%, and added 10 train services. The seat utilisation rate fell by 4 percentage points, an operational indicator that trains on the corridor are now less crowded rather than simply fuller.

Commuting demand strengthened as well. Average daily commuter pass ridership climbed 25.2% compared with pre-integration levels, and membership of Korail+, the unified booking app, reached approximately 20 million users.

Regional routes gained capacity from the revised timetable. Korail added 23 weekday and 26 weekend services, cutting headways on lines with longer intervals — the Jeolla, Donghae and Gyeongjeon lines — by an average of 4 minutes. New routings via Seodaejeon and Gupo entered service.

Fare reform drives cost savings

The integration came with a fare overhaul. High-speed fares fell by approximately 10%, KTX services departing Suseo gained a mileage programme, and public discount schemes for pregnant women and young people expanded. MOLIT calculates these measures saved passengers about ₩22.8 billion ($16.8 million) in September alone. If current levels hold, annual savings would reach around ₩280 billion ($206 million).

Transfer discounts between high-speed and conventional rail, extended to all high-speed trains, produced one of the sharpest measured shifts: average daily transfer ridership rose 64.9% year-on-year, with roughly 3,700 additional passengers per day using the discounts.

Foreign passengers gained a longer booking window on 1 October, when the reservation horizon moved to two months before departure. MOLIT plans to expand foreign-language services from seven languages to ten.

The September figures are measured results; the ₩280 billion annual saving remains a projection contingent on sustained demand.

Subsidiary restructuring and network plans

Service restructuring followed the consolidation of Korail's subsidiaries. On 23 September, five subsidiaries were reorganised into three divisions covering customer service, retail and logistics, and maintenance. Storyway, the station convenience store chain, launched "1+1" and "2+1" promotions using Korail Logistics' distribution network to streamline the supply chain.

MOLIT and Korail will hold a commemoration event at Seoul Station on 2 October to present these results and set out future operational directions.

Looking further ahead, the government plans to expand high-speed capacity through track works — including double-tracking the Osong–Pyeongtaek section — and new rolling stock deployment, targeting a nationwide "one-hour living zone." Safety management systems, previously fragmented between the two operators, will be unified under a single command structure so that rolling stock, facilities and electrical resources can be deployed cohesively in emergencies.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-sun called the integration "a meaningful achievement that fulfils our promise to the public," adding that the ministry would "do our utmost to create a safe and convenient travel environment that the public can truly feel."

The next test of the merger's trajectory will be whether the Suseo corridor's 27.8% growth and the network-wide 11.9% uplift hold as the expanded timetable and fare structure settle into a full year of operation.