The South Korean government announced plans on Thursday to expand the railroad network for each of the country's major cities over the next ten years.

At the core, the Transport Ministry's latest national rail network plan is expanding railroads outside the Seoul metropolitan area to help establish regional economic blocs that can rival the capital region.

From the existing Gyeongbu and Honam lines, railroads will first be built connecting Gimcheon and Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province and from Jochiwon to Sintanjin and from Ganggyeong to Gyeryong in the Chungcheong area.

New lines connecting Daegu to North Chungcheong, Busan to Ulsan, Gwangju to Naju and Daegu to North Gyeongsang are also in the works.

Meanwhile, a new expressway will be built along the western coast, and existing highways will be modernized to reduce travel time between major regions anywhere in the country to less than three hours.

After gathering opinions, the ministry is expected to finalize the plans within the first half of this year.