The number of passengers on bullet trains KTX and SRT hit a record high for the first quarter.

According to Korea Railroad (KORAIL) on Sunday, the number of KTX users came to 19-point-26 million travelers in the January-March period, up one-point-35 million from a year earlier.

Compared to the first quarter of 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure more than doubled. It also rose by 23-point-nine percent from the first quarter of 2019 before the pandemic.

SR, the operator of the high-speed SRT, said the number of SRT users rose by 130-thousand on-year to six-point-43 million in the first quarter. The figure marks a 65 percent rise from the first quarter of 2021, when it plunged to three-point-nine million.

The operators attributed the rises to pent-up travel demand after the pandemic and an increased supply of their bullet train routes.

Among the routes, KTX's Seoul-Busan route and SRT's Suseo-Busan route attracted the most passengers at one-point-49 million and 678-thousand, respectively, in the first quarter.