KTX-I

The KTX-I, also known as the TGV-K or Korail Class 100000, is a South Korean high speed train class based on the French TGV Réseau, with 20-car trainsets without a restaurant car, optimized for high capacity. The 46 trainsets were built partly in France and partly in South Korea under a technology transfer agreement, which was the basis for further domestic high-speed train development in South Korea. Korail uses the name KTX as the official name of KTX-I. The high-speed rail service of Korail, Korea Train Express, started with the KTX-I, which as of 2011 remained the main workhorse in KTX service with a maximum scheduled speed of 305 km/h. In 1991 bids were called for the supply and technology transfer of the core system technology for a South Korean high speed train service, with consortia led by GEC-Alstom, Siemens and Mitsubishi, and on 20 August 1993 the GEC-Alstom-led consortium was announced as the preferred bidder, with the contract signed on 14 June 1994. The first full train was completed and began testing in France in December 1997 and was shipped to South Korea in March 1998; in June 2000 a speed of 300 km/h was achieved after all of the 12 sets built by Alstom in France had been delivered, and the remaining 34 of the 46 trainsets were built under license by Rotem in South Korea.