Korea Late Winter Sonata 2015 - Taking Korail / Using Korail pass

 Korail is the national railroad operator in South Korea. Personally, I prefer trains to coaches while travelling and naturally I choose to take train when travelling from Seoul to Busan.

There are 3 kinds of train in Korea:

1) KTX (Korea Train Express)which is the fastest kind of train (equivalent to Bullet train in Japan or Taiwan).

2). ITX (Intercity Train Express) which runs along non-HSR line and have more stops

3). Mugunghwa-ho which is the cheapest but with longer travelling time since it stops at all stops along the way.

Busan station

 We took KTX to and fro Busan which is about 2hours and 45 mins since it is the fastest. But the tickets didn't come cheap. A standard ticket costs KRW58,800 one way. While ITX which takes about 4hours 30 mins costs KRW42,600 and Mugunghwa which takes 5hours 15min will cost KRW 28,600.

2 way return tickets will set us back by SGD120 each. 

Phone booths inside Busan station

 As usual, I did research to see whether there are any promotions for tourists. Besides travelling to Busan, we will also need to take a train to Jeongdongjin.

Going to platforms

 They do have Korail pass in 1,3,5,7 & 10days pass which will allowed unlimited travel on standard class seats of KTX, ITX and Mugunghwa trains within the limited days.

If you are travelling in 2 or more in a group, you are eligible to buy saver passes which is cheaper than individual passes.

KTX train

 After endless calculating, I decided to buy 5days KR pass which will cost KRW 125,700 each for saver pass. This is more expensive than our return tickets to&fro Busan but if we factor in the return tickets to Jeongdongjin then it would save us SGD42 each which is alot.

A 3day pass costs KRW83,700 each for saver pass but we are not able to use it since we are staying in Busan for 4 days. The pass gets activated the minute you exchange it for your tickets.

Eating Kimbap on KTX

 Also we did not plan to take the train to other towns from Busan since it is our first trip and I did not know the surrounding areas well.

This pass is literally useless to us if we didn't squeeze in Jeongdongjin on the 4th day. And so I squeezed in the overnight train to Jeongdongjin on the 4th day of the trip. That is we travelled to Seoul from Busan during the day, checked in and rest and took the overnight train to Jeongdongjin.

We then return back to Seoul on the 5th day which is just nice for us to buy the return tickets with the pass. Yay. Good plan but tiring.

Along the way to Seoul from Busan

Departing Busan for Seoul

 But if you are not travelling to another place on train then perhaps it is better to plan for 3days trip in Busan and buy the 3day pass which will still save you some monies.

KR pass must be booked online at least 3days before departure and you have to enter your credit card details for the booking and use the same card when collecting your passes and also your passports. if you did not exchange the tickets then no charges will be charged to your card.

Pass can be collected from all train stations and we collected ours at the airport counter and brought the KTX ticket to Busan there too. Since Jeongdongjin night train is a hot seller, I decided to book the tickets there and then too.

KR pass is issue to you like a receipt and you have to keep it and produce it every time you wanna buy the train tickets.

The only down side is we are unable to book advance online tickets if buying KR pass. You can only starting booking once you exchange for your pass. No problem if you are travelling during non peak period like us.

Besides KTX, we took Mugunghwa train while going to Jeongdongjin. This is the only available type of train that travels to the East coast of South Korea. Total travelling time is around 6hours and we choose a 11pm train which will arrive at Jeongdongjin at 4.30am.

Departing for Jeongdongjin

 Mugunghwa train interior is notably older than other trains in comparison. Not that it is 
uncomfortable but it is just a note.

You can hang your coats here

 There is a cafe for Mugunghwa trains and you can get quite a bit of snacks inside if you are hungry. But since we took an overnight train, we sleep all the way to our destination. Furthermore, I brought quite a bit of snacks with me for the trip.

Mugunghwa in train cafe

 The very cool thing is, I found a KTV room in Mugunghwa trains and also massage chairs which yu have to pay to use in both cases. It is so cool can. Not even KTX have these. In fact there is no cafe carriage for KTX trains, just staff pushing the food cart along the train for sale.

Controller

Screen and KTV machine

Massage chair

Cafe carriage tables

Mugunghwa train interior

 We took ITX- Cheongchun to Gapyeong for our day trip to Petite France. It was pretty special as we did not exit the station even as we took metro to Cheongnyangni station.

Initially I thought we could tap out at Gapyeong since the platforms are just right beside each other. When travelling to Jeongdongjin which is also from Cheongnyangni station, we did exit the metro station and then went into the train platform. But we also have valid tickets which we brought before hand.

Platform for ITX Cheongchun trains

 All platforms in Cheongnyangni are specific to travelling different areas of South Korea. Trains for specific regions will stop at specific platforms.

The goondos us sat on the platform waiting for the train to arrive but I still have this nagging feeling of the need to buy valid train tickets since I am not sure Gapyeong will accept T-cards.

Furthermore I keep seeing everyone holding to their tickets, got more uneasy.

Then I went near the boarding area and saw some instructions board and read it for fun. Thank god for my curiousity cause after reading then I realised we were supposed to tap out on 1 of the machines and purchase tickets to Gapyeong.

With only 5mins before train arrival, we raced up the esclator to go search for the machines

Instructions on how to tap out and buy tickets

I didn't have time to take picture of the machines so I will explained here how to go about it.

You need not exit the gates but you will need to locate the transit card reader and tap your card on the right side of the reader to indicate that you exit from Cheongnyangni station. The machines I went to are just right infront of the escalators as you come up from the platforms.

Then you buy your tickets from the ticketing machine. There are instructions in English and Chinese. Pretty easy to use and you will be issued the ticket cards.

Then you go down to the platform where trains will be departing for Gapyeong and take the train.

We did this under 5min and is back at the platform just as the train pulls into station.

In any case if you didn't buy any tickets and board the train, you will not have a seat since all tickets have assigned seats. The train master will then make you pay on the spot but I am not sure whether the tickets will have a penalty like the Taiwan trains.

Train tickets

There are also non seating tickets if the train is full and you will need stand outside the main seating area. But there are a 6seats there too so if you are lucky enough you will also get a seat even though you are holding standing tickets.

Seats at standing area

Automatic doors

We tapped in again at Cheongnyangni station as we disembarked from ITX-Cheongchun and did not have to exit the station gates. We then transferred to the Metro.

The machine is usually locate near escalators on the platform and will have instructions on it.

Tapping machines

ITX-Cheongchun

Vending machine on platform

Similar to Taiwan Railway, Korail also have a website that you can check the train timetables and fares. You can also book the tickets in advance online but if you are planning to buy KR pass then this is not applicable to you. Korail Tickets booking

Overall, I find it managable to travel on Korail in Korea. Though it might sometime be a bit confusing and also with the language barrier. The good thing is there are English announcements on all stations and also estimated time of arrival. I would set alarm near to the arrival time and listen more intently to the announcements.