A train line connecting Incheon with Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, will open Saturday, linking two major cities in the capital region via a trip that will take 70 minutes.

The Transport Ministry announced Thursday the full opening of the Suin Line on Saturday. The line is divided into three sections, and two spanning over 20 kilometers were already in operation.

A total of 2 trillion won ($1.68 billion) was poured into the project, which broke ground in 2004 and involved reconstructing an old railway between the two cities that closed in December 1995.

The first section of 13.1 kilometers connecting Incheon’s Songdo area with Oido Station in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, began operation in June 2012. The second, extending from Songdo to the center of Incheon for another 7.3 kilometers, opened in February 2016.

On Saturday the last remaining section, which runs for another 19.9 kilometers to Suwon, will open. With the fully connected Suin Line, Suwon and Incheon will be connected with a travel time of 70 minutes on the metro train.

The Suin Line will also be connected to Seoul Subway’s Bundang Line, with their combined length spanning 108 kilometers. It will run trains with six cars at 20-minute intervals during rush hour and every 25 minutes for the rest of the day. It will operate from 5:36 a.m. to 12:17 a.m. daily.

The Transport Ministry said the train line will augment public transportation for people in Incheon and the southwestern regions of Gyeonggi Province traveling to and from Seoul, as well as between the two cities. Previously, people wanting to move between Incheon and the Gyeonggi cities of Siheung, Ansan and Suwon had to resort to the bus or take Line No. 1 and transfer.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)