1001 Smart Cities

Permanent project revision

Busan-Gimhae Light Rail and Its Revenue Guarantee

Revision 2026-08-20-source-dates · effective 2026-07-26

Current revision. This is the snapshot used by the live entity page.

unreviewed

Recorded sources[].date on every source that states one and an explicit null on the living pages that state none, so the entry can say how old its evidence is.

sha256:4cdf18e2ad9afa4b1c5f7f4de0a6debbc018f959d777e69a22cff280e6c21b11
All revisions → Current entity page →

Change set

  • replace /snapshot/projectFingerprint — Updated projectFingerprint to the current sourced project record.
  • replace /snapshot/sources — Updated sources to the current sourced project record.
16
of 16 claims mapped
8
source dossiers
6
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Claims, one by one

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-c146b87f64a6c1ba descriptive
fully automated, with no driver
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Wikipedia's infobox describes the line as fully automated, with no driver requirement.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Wikipedia — Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit
Claim 2 clm-1641ddd8ec354d98 quantitative
The line is 23.9 km long and has 21 stations
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Wikipedia gives 23.9 km (14.9 mi) and 21 stations.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Wikipedia — Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit
Claim 3 clm-d51adc16fbc0fbf3 quantitative
It projected 176,358 riders a day in the opening year, rising to 322,545 by 2031
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Domin Ilbo: the Korea Transport Institute forecast 176,358 riders a day at the 2011 opening, rising to 322,545 by 2031.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money
Claim 4 clm-5a486192c78904a8 quantitative
On the day it opened, the line carried 30,084 riders
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Domin Ilbo, quoting the opening figure: 「경전철 개통 당시 하루 평균 탑승객은 3만 84명이었다」 — average daily ridership at opening was 30,084.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money
Claim 5 clm-6971ce29b4ec1bf2 quantitative
Gimhae's support payment for 2020 alone was 48.6 billion won
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Busan Ilbo: Gimhae's support totalled 486억 won (48.6bn).
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Busan Ilbo — ten years of running on deficits (15 September 2021)
Claim 6 clm-62c33287a7b57542 quantitative
against ridership of 34,752 a day where the forecast had promised 272,220
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Busan Ilbo: 34,752 daily riders against a projected 272,220.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Busan Ilbo — ten years of running on deficits (15 September 2021)
Claim 7 clm-2220b670135f5898 quantitative
By 2024 the annual payment across both cities had reached 84.1 billion won
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
SBS gives the 2024 payment as 「841억 원」 — 84.1 billion won (억 = hundred million).
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. SBS — inflated light rail demand forecasts keep wasting tax money
Claim 8 clm-d391f2ab0dd7bc97 quantitative
Gimhae carries 63.19 percent of the cost and Busan 36.81 percent
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Domin Ilbo gives the cost split as Gimhae 63.19% and Busan 36.81%.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money
Claim 9 clm-d0039e28a7bb5ba5 quantitative
Busan and Gimhae paid 906.8 billion won in support payments over 2011-2025
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The cumulative support total over 2011-2025, split 572.4bn from Gimhae and 334.4bn from Busan.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Kyunghyang Shinmun — Gimhae carries hundreds of billions in light rail losses (3 December 2025)
  2. Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money
Claim 10 clm-7cb5af254cce4956 quantitative
they are contractually liable for at least 1.0898 trillion won more through 2041
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The remaining contractual liability running to the end of the concession in 2041.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Kyunghyang Shinmun — Gimhae carries hundreds of billions in light rail losses (3 December 2025)
  2. Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money
Claim 11 clm-47888f53eb33ce56 quantitative
The original minimum revenue guarantee ran from September 2011 to March 2017, when it was replaced by a cost-compensation arrangement running through 2041
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Domin Ilbo dates the MRG from September 2011 to March 2017 and its replacement by cost compensation (비용 보전) through 2041; the Busan city announcement of the abolition is dated 5 April 2017.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money
  2. Busan Metropolitan City press release — minimum revenue guarantee abolished (5 April 2017)
Claim 12 clm-bc0955a3ff20e6f2 quantitative
The renegotiation cut the projected remaining burden by roughly 304 billion won
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Domin Ilbo frames the renegotiation as cutting the projected burden from about 1.8 trillion won to about 1.49 trillion.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money
Claim 13 clm-9babc150669e37d8 descriptive
The trains are two-car sets built by Hyundai Rotem
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Wikipedia lists 2-car trains manufactured by Rotem, a Hyundai Rotem subsidiary.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Wikipedia — Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit
Claim 15 clm-ff55c3ebc98c686c quantitative
Uijeongbu's light rail, which opened in 2012, carried well under half its projected ridership and costs its city on the order of 20 billion won a year
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
SBS: Uijeongbu opened 2012, actual riders fell far below 50% of projected demand, with annual payments of about 200억 won (20bn).
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. SBS — inflated light rail demand forecasts keep wasting tax money
Claim 16 clm-e65fa8b4f3f0e034 descriptive
in Yongin, a former mayor's liability in damages over the city's light rail was confirmed by the Supreme Court
Published field
body · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
SBS: 「손해배상 책임이 대법원에서 확정」 — the former Yongin mayor's liability in damages was confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. SBS — inflated light rail demand forecasts keep wasting tax money

Source dossiers and revision state

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-20-source-dates effective 2026-07-26 · created 2026-08-20

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:4cdf18e2ad9afa4b1c5f7f4de0a6debbc018f959d777e69a22cff280e6c21b11
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
16
of 16 claims mapped
8
source dossiers
6
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit Co., BTO concessionaire and direct operator since 2017
Actor types
private
Funding model
ppp
Funding description
Build-Transfer-Operate concession; public support shared Gimhae 63.19% / Busan 36.81%
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

8 source dossiers

Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — the light rail that eats money idomin.com · 8 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c2af622a9a9f920c
Publisher
Name not classified · idomin.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-09-10
Updated
2025-09-11
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Sentence-level source for the forecast and its author: the Korea Transport Institute projected 176,358 riders/day at 2011 opening, 211,147 by 2014 and 322,545 by 2031; actual opening-day ridership was 30,084 (20% of forecast); 2024 ridership 45,932/day; 2024 support payments 84.2bn won; April 2017 switch from MRG to 25-year cost compensation (MCC) running to 2041; public liability cut from 1.7963tn to 1.4919tn won.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Busan Metropolitan City press release — minimum revenue guarantee abolished (5 April 2017) busan.go.kr · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ef495553f07849e9
Publisher
Name not classified · busan.go.kr
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2017-04-05
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Authoritative city source for the contractual mechanism: press release of 5 April 2017 announcing abolition of the minimum revenue guarantee and its replacement by minimum cost compensation; revised agreement signed 24 March 2017, effective 1 April 2017; concessionaire, operating company and maintenance contractor merged into direct operation; private return cut from 14.56% to 3.34%; savings of about 304.4bn won to 2041.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Gyeongnam Domin Ilbo — national funding sought for the light rail deficit (6 April 2026) idomin.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-aed164cc97a8ee6c
Publisher
Name not classified · idomin.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2026-04-06
Updated
2026-04-08
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Most recent source, April 2026: the two cities paid 906.8bn won in support payments over 2011-2025 (Gimhae 572.4bn, Busan 334.4bn) and must pay at least 1.0898tn won more from 2026 to 2041; confirms the subsidy is an active political issue in the 2026 Gimhae mayoral race, including a 17 March 2026 meeting with the transport minister.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Kyunghyang Shinmun — Gimhae carries hundreds of billions in light rail losses (3 December 2025) khan.co.kr · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-1510a1616ac15422
Publisher
Name not classified · khan.co.kr
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-12-03
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Independent confirmation of the payment split and the 2024 gap: cumulative support of 519.1bn won (Gimhae) and 302.8bn won (Busan) since 2011; 2024 payments of 52.9bn and 31.2bn won; forecast of 306,000 riders/day for 2024 against about 45,000 actual; Gimhae's request for national cost-sharing in the 2027 budget.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
SBS — inflated light rail demand forecasts keep wasting tax money news.sbs.co.kr · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c84463cc3335f411
Publisher
Name not classified · news.sbs.co.kr
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-07-17
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Source for the 2024 and 2025 ridership figures used in the entry: 45,821 riders/day in 2024, equal to 14.9% of the 306,000 forecast for that year, and 45,689/day over January-May 2025.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Busan Ilbo — ten years of running on deficits (15 September 2021) mobile.busan.com · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-4647d109f777759c
Publisher
Name not classified · mobile.busan.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2021-09-15
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Source for the opening date (revenue service from 17 September 2011) and for the COVID trough used as the recovery baseline: 34,752 riders/day in 2020, with 48.6bn won paid in support that year.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit Co. — operator site bglrt.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-a0159a68aed0f6c5
Publisher
Name not classified · bglrt.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Official site of the BTO concessionaire that has run the line directly since the 2017 restructuring; confirms the line is in normal operation in 2026.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Wikipedia — Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit en.wikipedia.org · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-0a5ad2fb460befb7
Publisher
Name not classified · en.wikipedia.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-20
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Used only for the technical specification: 23.9 km, 21 stations, standard gauge, 750 V DC third rail, Thales SelTrac CBTC moving-block signalling and fully automated driverless operation. Note that this page presents 176,000 riders/day as design capacity; the Korean sources above show it is in fact the opening-year demand forecast.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.