The operation started after unveiling a test-version maglev train, which will be put into commercial service by 2013, on a 6.11 kilometre rail link to the airport, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. The trains will run at a maximum speed of 110 kilometres per hour.

The test operation is part of the government's project launched in 2006 under the plan to commercialize magnetic levitation trains in and around the Seoul metropolitan area, as it invested a total of 450 billion won (404 million U.S. dollars) for the project, it added.

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs on April 29 also started designing the high speed rail project that will link Suseo with Pyungtaek and should be completed by late 2014.

The Ministry will divide the Suseo-Pyungtaek rail project into 9 sections. It will put out two sections, the Sanggal-Dongtan line and Pyungtaek-Kyungbu HSR line, to tender as turn-key projects.

The successful bidders will be designated early September after the evaluation on bidding prices and deliberation on draft basic designs. Basic and practical designs on the remaining 7 sections will start at the same time.

The construction should start late next year and be completed by late 2014.

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