For a guide to just how important trains are to South Korean strategic thinking, think of the country as a virtual island.
On three sides is ocean. On the northern side is the 249km border with North Korea, one of the most fortified stretches of land anywhere. Nothing gets across it with any regularity, aside from passing flocks of migratory birds.
South Korea is an industrial powerhouse, yet its island status means goods and materials have to be shipped or flown in and out. A fully functioning connection to the trans-Siberian railway would, for example, slash shipping times to Europe - one of its major markets - by two thirds. Large government billboards outlining such a vision flank big avenues around Seoul.
The eventual realisation of that vision took a step closer to reality this week, buoyed by the recent summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his southern counterpart, President Roh Moo-hyun.
Defence ministers from the North and South agreed to a daily cross-border train service to the Kaesong Industrial Park just inside the northern border, starting on December 11. Working-level officials are set to meet on Tuesday to thrash out an agreement on including Kaesong as part of a more substantial route running between Munsan in the South and the North's Bongdong, a 20km route severed during the Korean war in the early 1950s.
No one is pretending the moves represent a breakthrough, but there is palpable relief in the minds of South Korean officials after years of dashed hopes and false starts in their dealings with the Stalinist hermit state. The initial test of the Munsan line in May was met with considerable fanfare, with media from Seoul reporting the effort had cost the South an estimated US$500 million - making the test the most expensive train ride in history.
Hopes for follow-up tests swiftly evaporated, however. Ever paranoid, Pyongyang yet again cited unspecified security fears as a reason for more delays. Those issues are expected to surface again this week, but there are broader hopes for meaningful progress.
