Seoul's Line 7 Closed a Station for a Month to Lay a 15 km Track Into Gyeonggi

Seoul’s Line 7 Closed a Station for a Month to Lay a 15 km Track Into Gyeonggi

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For 29 days in October, Seoul’s subway Line 7 simply ended one stop early. Jangam Station, the northern terminus of Line 7, was closed from October 2 to October 30 so that crews could demolish it, splice new track into the old, and stand up a temporary replacement. It reopened with the first train on October 31. The station serving passengers today is officially temporary, which is fitting, because the one it replaced was a bare-bones structure tucked inside a train depot.

What happened

The closure was ordered by Gyeonggi Province, the region that wraps around Seoul and houses much of its commuter belt. Gyeonggi is building the Dobongsan–Okjeong metropolitan railway, an extension that will carry Line 7 north out of the capital, and the old Jangam Station sat directly in its path.

While the station was shut, Line 7 trains turned back at Dobongsan, the stop before it. The province ran free shuttle buses between the two stations from 5 a.m. to midnight, every 7 to 15 minutes on weekdays and every 10 to 20 minutes on weekends and holidays.

The work itself followed a tight script: track connections began on October 2, facility relocation and joint inspections wrapped up by October 24, and the new operating setup was tested under service-like conditions through October 27. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport signed off on the revised safety management system for the temporary station on October 28, three days before reopening. Seoul Metro, the city-owned operator that runs Line 7, said it and the province had inspected the site together, brought in outside institutions to verify the work, and run test trains.

Why a month-long closure for three stations

The numbers behind the extension explain the disruption:

  • Length: 15.1 km, from Dobongsan Station in northern Seoul to the Goeup district of Yangju.
  • Stops: three, including Jangam and Tapseok in the city of Uijeongbu.
  • Budget: 893.5 billion won, roughly $658 million.
  • Progress: 63.62 percent complete as of September 2026.

One detail stands out to anyone used to big-city metros: the line is single-track. Trains in both directions will have to share one set of rails, a rare arrangement for a line plugged directly into the Seoul subway network.

For outsiders, the context is the capital region’s geography. Uijeongbu and Yangju are Gyeonggi cities just north of Seoul, and many of their residents work in the capital. A seat on an existing Seoul subway line, with no transfer at the city limit, is one of the most sought-after pieces of infrastructure a local government can deliver. That helps explain why a province, rather than the city of Seoul, is paying for and managing construction on a line that carries Seoul’s name.

What happens next

With the temporary station in service, the old Jangam Station can be torn down and a permanent one built in its place, this time connected to the new railway. A Seoul Metro executive, Jeong Won-gyu, said the operator would keep a close watch on safety at the temporary station and cooperate with the province so the project proceeds “without a hitch.”

The subject was trending in Korean searches in late October, as commuters checked whether their station would really be back on schedule. It was. The larger question, how a line with more than a third of its construction still to go will eventually be run, is the part riders in Uijeongbu and Yangju will be watching next.

Sources

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