- The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will hold an online public hearing on April 22 to finalize and announce the project in the first half of this year.
- The project is expected to shorten the travel time from Seoul to Yeosu to slightly over 2 hours by speeding it up to 250 km/h.

Yeosu City has welcomed the reflection of the Jeolla Line (Iksan-Yeosu) high-speed rail project, which has been suggested by Yeosu as a long-awaited project, in the 4th National Rail Network Plan of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT).

MOLIT held a public hearing on the 4th National Rail Network Construction Plan online on the 22nd and discussed the above.

The Jeolla Line high-speed rail project, which was unveiled on this day, includes the construction of a new 88.365km sector between Jukrim Hot Spring in Wanju, Jeollabuk-do and Suncheon by investing 3 trillion won, and reducing the travel time between Iksan and Yeosu Expo Station by 38 minutes from 98 minutes to 60 minutes.

The Jeolla Line has been operated by KTX by improving the existing track through converting it to a electrified double track in 2011, but it carries the opprobrium as a low-speed train because it operates at 120 km/h per hour.

Completing the high-speed rail project is expected to cut short the travel time from Yeosu to Seoul from currently 3 hours to slightly over 2 hours.

The 4th National Rail Network Plan contains the basic directions of rail network construction and route expansion plans for 10 years until 2031, and will be announced in the first half of this year as the final draft is prepared through this public hearing.

Mayor Kwon O-bong said, “We are very pleased with the results of the suggestions continuously made by our city and Jeolla North Province.” He added, "Looking forward, we will work hard through partnership with the city's business and civil organizations to ensure the early implementation of the project and its contribution to residents' convenience and activated tourism in the city."