Pyeongchang not to deliver railroad for 2018 Olympics
It has recently been revealed that the city of Pyeongchang will not be featuring the high-speed rail link that was one of the key elements in the city’s bid which helped it to secure the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
During the time that the bid for the 2018 Olympics was made back in the month of July 2011, there was some scepticism whether the city of Pyeongchang would be able to deliver a successful Olympic Games as the distance between the South Korea’s central airport
and the Olympic venues is considerable. This distance spans a total of 155 miles.
In response to this criticism, the city of Pyeongchang had responded by stating that plans to build a high speed rail link are underway and once the link is created, the travel time between the Olympic sites and the central airport would be reduced to 68
minutes.
However, the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee has defended itself by stating that it was not their intention to provide incorrect information to the IOC members so that Pyeongchang could secure the bid.
Sohn Chang-hwan, a design and planning venue director for the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee, expressed himself in the following manner regarding the matter, “The claim is falsely reported. We never said we would build a bullet-train track from Incheon
to Pyeongchang, but the media did. The only proposed plan is connecting Wonju and Gangneung with a new express railroad. The 68 minute proposal was the best possible time that could be. We said that number to persuade the IOC members.”
The details of the bid that secured Pyeongchang the 2018 Winter Olympic Games include a railroad that covers the area between Wonju and Gangneung. The proposal also claimed that the railroad will be supporting a speed of up to 250 kph and that it would be
functional a year before the staging of the Olympics in 2017.
The railroad is not the only factor that is raising concern over the city’s ability to host the Olympic Games in the year 2018, the construction of the Olympic venues is also on shaky waters.
Tags: