trains in south korea | Squat the Planet

trains in south korea

nobo

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my buddy just got back from a year and half of teaching in south korea and he said that almost every nite he would hang out by the train tracks and watch the freights go by. he said theyre a bit different than the ones over here, but they run pretty frequently. no boxcars, mostly 48's and lumber...i was wondering if theyve ever been ridden, he said that if someone was to ride them they definately wouldnt face any consequences since all the police are basically kids (in south korea when youre 18 you have to serve either in the military or the police force), in fact my friend was arrested several times and he said you could basically get arrested then just walk out of the police station, haha. so yea...whos gonna ride the south korean rails?!!?!
 

Beegod Santana

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Been a minute since this this thread was active but I figured I'd update it. First of all, s. korean cops aren't fulfilling their mandatory military service. They're kids who've already done their service and want a cusy job for a short period of time. S. Korean trains are basically the same as american / canadian freights, no boxcars or grainers that I've seen, but lots of IM, gondolas and lumber. Since I've been here I've seen one rider, who was a migrant worker from vietnam. S. Koreans hardly ever break the rules so police presence is very low and from what I hear, riding is more likely to cause confusion than arrest. However, if you actually get prosecuted the penalties for most anything can be rather harsh, so I wouldn't recommend carelessness.

Hopefully I'll have more to add soon.
 

Beegod Santana

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Update: There's actually plenty of boxcars, just took me a minute to see one. I haven't seen an open one yet, but they're pretty much the same style as the american ones only with a slightly different handle. Riding around here seems to be cake as long as its at night. Most passener train stops are also freight yards and the freight lines seem to follow the same route as the passenger trains. Talked to one kid the other day who said he got caught hopping on a gondola and the workers thought he was just a very confused foreigner that didn't realize that he wasn't on a passenger train.
 

xbocax

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sounds promising i hear koreas very nice and health conscious well parts of it and theres very nice parks with stones walk ways where the stones are suppose to hit all the right spots on your feet for therapeutic purposes.
 

Waygook

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do it, and if you get caught, just play the foreigner card. My buddy got caught swimming in the Han River and the cops just let him go because they figured he was just a silly foreigner and didn't understand.
 

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