SEOUL, 17th January, 2026 (WAM) -- The total number of the Republic of Korea's railway passengers hit a record high last year, driven by growing demand for high-speed train services, the transport ministry said.
A total of 172.2 million people travelled by train in 2025, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The country's two high-speed rail services -- KTX and SRT -- carried a record 118.7 million passengers last year, up 2.6 percent from a year ago.
About 93 million people used KTX, averaging 254,000 riders per day, while some 26 million travelled on SRT, with a daily average of 71,000.
However, the number of conventional train passengers fell 3.6 percent on-year to 53 million last year.
The Seoul-Busan line was the busiest route, with 83.6 million railway travellers, including 61.4 million on high-speed trains.
Seoul Station was the busiest train station last year, handling 43.9 million passengers, followed by Busan train station with 26.1 million and Dongdaegu train station with 20.5 million.