KTX (Korea Train Express)

KTX, short for Korea Train Express, is South Korea's high-speed rail service and its associated trainsets, launched in 2004 on the Gyeongbu high-speed line between Seoul and Busan. The first-generation KTX trainsets were built under license from the French manufacturer Alstom, based directly on the TGV Réseau design, before South Korea developed its own domestically engineered high-speed trainsets, the KTX-Sancheon and later KTX-Eum, to reduce dependence on French technology. KTX cut travel time between Seoul and Busan from roughly four and a half hours by conventional rail to under three hours, and its introduction is widely credited with reshaping domestic travel patterns and business activity across South Korea's major cities.