Riding the train in South Korea (railroad)

I decided that I wanted to ride the train to my destination in Suwon. The subway from my location would have taken 1 hour and 30 minutes with a few transfers. I looked up information about the train. The ride from Seoul station to Suwon station would only be about 40 minutes. I still have to get to Seoul station, but thats only a 20 minute direct subway ride. In all, my trip will take an hour. I've never ridden the train in South Korea so it will be a new experience for me.

Booking the train was pretty simple. I made my reservation the night before, but you can make it up to 1 month in advance. My ticket was only 2,700 won (about 2.70) for a one way trip. I rode the nuriro.

There are 5 different types of trains owned by Korail:

1. KTX- This is the bullet train. Its very fast, but the most expensive.
2. Saemaeul-These trains are a little slower than the KTX and a little less expensive.
3. Nuriro-This is a slower train, but very inexpensive
4. Mugunghwa-This is also a slower train and very inexpensive
5. Commuter-These trains have less routes and go to rural areas

The whole train experience was good. I got to the station early. I went up to the ticket booth with my passport and reservation numbers. The person at the counter typed in my info and printed out my tickets. Quick and easy. He circled all the information that I needed to know like seat number and time.

Then I went down to the tracks and asked the lady at the information desk which way to go. I had to go to track number 2.

I went there and found my seat. The seats are comfortable and spacious enough to handle a larger person like myself. Someone slightly larger might have some discomfort, but it was comfortable for me.

The train left promptly and stops at a few locations along the way.

How to Book online:
Go to http://www.korail.com
Click on the left circle
Click on English
Scroll down just a little, on the right side click on Korail pass reservation
Click on rail tickets
Booking online
Put in your information about where you want to go and what time
Click Inquiry and all the train schedules will come up
Choose the one you want and click on select (If there are seats available the link will be blue)
Enter your name, passport number, gender, and nationality
Then you will be taken to the payment page-you can pay with an overseas credit card or a Korean issued card
Then you will be confirmed and you can print your voucher
Take your voucher to the ticket counter and exchange for your tickets (they will ask for your passport)
I didn't have a printer so I just wrote my confirmation numbers and that was good enough