Seoul Metropolitan Subway

The Seoul Metropolitan Subway is an integrated urban rail transit system consisting of 18 rapid transit, light metro, commuter rail and people mover lines. The system serves most of the Seoul Metropolitan Area including the Incheon metropolis and satellite cities in Gyeonggi province. Some lines in the network cross large rural areas to reach major cities in northern Chungnam province and western Gangwon province that lie over 100km away from the capital. The network consists of numbered (Lines 1-9) lines that serve Seoul City proper and its surroundings and named wide-area lines that serve the greater metropolitan region. Most of the system is operated by four companies – Seoul Metro, Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit (SMRT), Korail (Korea National Railroad) and Metro 9. Korail is South Korea's national passenger and freight railway operator. This is similar to Europe and Japan, were the national railroad often operates local mainline urban railways, such as the S-Bahns in Germany, operated by subsidiaries of Deutsche Bahn, or JR East in Japan, which operates many other urban rail systems in Japanese cities.