Haecheol

Haesan Railway Corporation

해산철도공사
Headquarters of Haecheol at Jinyun Station
Abbreviation	CHL
Formation	March 11, 1973 (1973-03-11)
Founder	Henri Lagarde
Founded at	Hwagang, Haesan
Merger of	Anmi & Central Railway, Compagnie Ferroviaire du Golfe, Promethean & Southern Railway, Southwestern Railway
Type	Government controlled public corporation
Headquarters	Jinyun, Sinhan
Services	Rail transport
Revenue (2022)	$13.7 billion
Staff (2022)	84,921
Website	haecheol.co.hn

Haecheol (Haean: 해철), short for Haesan Cheoldo Gongsa (Haean: 해산철도공사) or Haesan Railway Corporation is a publicly traded corporation which is the national railway operator in Haesan. The corporation operates over 90% of high speed railway service and accounts for 70% of inter-city rail traffic in Haesan. The largest stakeholder is the national government at 51% managed by the Ministry of Transportation, but the corporation has largely operated as a public-private partnership since its inception. The largest non-government shareholder is Suri Heavy Industry, which owns a 22% stake and provides most of the rolling stock for the company.

Haecheol mainly operates inter-city and regional railroads, but also handles freight traffic through much of Haesan, co-operates the Hanyeong Maglev of the Suyang Metropolitan Subway with the government of Suyang, and helps facilitate international connections when geopolitical circumstances allow.

History

Haecheol was founded by the Railway Modernization Act in 1973 by the Lagarde government, shortly after Haesan's reinstatement. One of the goals of the Maximusian provisional government was to restore transportation, including rail access, across Haesan, but in 1973, while regional connections were live little national coordination existed. The aim of the act was to create a corporation which would subsume the renovated assets of the four largest pre-war regional rail services, the Anmi & Central Railway, Compagnie Ferroviaire du Golfe, Promethean & Southern Railway, and Southwestern Railway, all of which had many assets seized by the Daryans in the Great War or were financially ruined as a result. Those assets were placed under the national supervision of Haecheol, and were designated to be supervised by a public/private board of logistics experts, engineers, and industry professionals to fully rebuild the rail network and ensure functional railway service for all cities in Haesan.

In the mid 1980s, as Haesan transitioned to democracy and reconstruction had nearly completed, Haecheol's focus shifted to providing speed and convenience to consumers, and started developing high speed rail routes. In 1991, the first of these, the Trans-Haesan Express (THX) opened to positive reviews from consumers and contractors on the project. The domestically produced Suri H120 train hit 278 km/h (173 mph), then in the top three in the IDU at the time and seen as a major victory for Haesanite engineering. In 1998, the Southern Express Line first opened, funded in large part by Maximusian investments. The last major branch of the ultra-high speed components of Haecheol's railway is the Central Valley Express (CVX), opened in 2008 with significant Xiomeran backing.

Haecheol's original headquarters were located within the Department of Transportation in Hwagang along with a major depot in Nageunho-gu, Suyang. In 1990, the headquarters moved to Nageunho full time. In 2021, new offices and laboratories for the company opened near the rail hub of Jinyun, Sugang, in the Suyang metropolitan area.

While Haecheol is a railway corporation, it also has a large engineering base, and has often tried to the limits of speed throughout its history. The THX has undergone multiple waves of renovations, and the Suri H510 trains currently operating on it reach 424 km/h (263 mph), still one of top 10 fastest speeds of a passenger rail line and fast enough to connect Haesan's two largest cities in a little over two hours. More experimental is the Hanyeong Maglev opened in 2015 in partnership with the governments of Suyang and Hanyeong. The maglev train, which connects Suyang's Central Station with Suyang-Hanyeong International Airport and downtown Hanyeong, in testing has reached speeds of up to 591 km/h (367 mph), which upon its launch was the fastest passenger train in the world although it no longer holds that record.

Today, Haecheol continues to expand the size of the Haesanite rail network, maintain its world class safety record, while continually updating its current services to provide the most rapid transit possible. Haecheol engineers are currently engaged in a battle with Novellan engineers to maintain the fastest rail speed, and are constantly experimenting to reach ever faster speeds.

Domestic service

Haecheol currently operates X (convert) of rail, X of which is electrified standard gauge railway for high-speed and "super high-speed" railways. Haecheol also operates X of narrow gauge rail for regional passenger and freight traffic.

List of routes

Haecheol high-speed routes, colors correspond to color of route boxes

Line	Section	Length		Opened	Operating speed
		km	mi		kph	mph
Trans-Haesan Express	Suyang – Hyangsan
	Hyangsan – Marchal (via Jeongseon)
	Hyangsan – Maehwa (via Sanri)
	Maehwa – Marchal
	Maehwa – Levesque (Levesque Spur)
	Marchal – Anfa
Southern Express Line	Sinju – Munseong
	Munseong – Anmi (direct)
	Munseong – Anmi (Yeocheon Connector)
	Anmi – Gyeongseong
	Anmi – Jeonyu
Central Valley Express	Anmi – Anfa (via Hwagang)
Gulf Coast Line	Junyeol – Ibyeon/Ikuzaka
	Ibyeon/Ikuzaka – Kanjishima, LSS
Northern Connector	Anfa – Moreau
	Moreau – Hwayeon, SN
Eastern Line	Namju – Sokhae
Sinhan Line	Hanyeong – Yeonsan
	Yeonsan – St. Clair, LRL
Plains Line	Sanri – Gyeongseong
Northern Line	Hwagang – Sokhae
Meridian Line	Sinju – Gyeongseong (via Hyangsan, Imae)
Suyang Connector Lines	Suyang – Imae
	Suyang – Hoseon
	Suyang – Yeonsan (via Jinyun)
	Suyang – Daegyo (via Munseong)
	Suyang – Haseon
	Haseon – Sanri
	Haseon – Jisunsan
Hanyeong Maglev	Suyang – Hanyeong