ECOBEE and the Incheon Airport Maglev
South Korea developed its own urban maglev and opened a free airport line in 2016. It was stopped in 2023 and restarted in October 2025, but today it runs only a few hours a day.
A national maglev program
ECOBEE was developed by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) under the Urban Maglev Program, which started in December 2006. Hyundai Rotem built the UTM-02 vehicles. Like the Japanese HSST and Chinese urban systems, it uses electromagnetic suspension and a linear induction motor on the vehicle, designed for up to 110 km/h.
Fact sheet
- Developer
- KIMM, vehicles by Hyundai Rotem
- Vehicle
- UTM-02
- Principle
- Electromagnetic suspension (EMS), linear induction motor
- Design speed
- 110 km/h
- Line
- Incheon Airport Terminal 1 to Yongyu, 6.1 km, 6 stations
- Opened
- 3 February 2016
- Status
- Restarted 17 October 2025, very limited timetable
Opened, stopped, restarted
- 2006
Urban Maglev Program
South Korea launches a national program to develop its own urban maglev.
- 2016
Line opens
A free 6.1 km service starts at Incheon Airport. Use stays low, peaking at about 4,000 passengers a day in 2019.
- 2022
Service suspended
Operation is halted and a closure report is filed.
- 2023
End as urban rail
On 1 September, operation as an urban railway ends.
- 2025
Restart
On 17 October, the line restarts as a track facility under a new agreement between the national government, Incheon City and the airport corporation.
Running, but barely
Observers report no service on Mondays and trains only between about 10:15 and 16:40, roughly every 35 minutes. Export plans by Hyundai Rotem are reportedly no longer being pursued. The Incheon line shows how a technically working maglev can still struggle when it serves too few passengers.