Supreme Council for National Reconstruction
Following the 1961 coup, the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction started South Korea's first five-year plan, which included a construction program to complete the railway network, to foster economic growth. As part of the program, work began on a line to plug the gap between Jinju and Suncheon on April 28, 1962. The difficult long section included 38 bridges with a total length of and 27 tunnels with a total length of , as well as 13 new stations. The Jinju–Suncheon line opened on February 7, 1968, when the whole railway line from Samnangjin to Songjeong-ri was renamed the Gyeongjeon Line. By the mid-2000s, alignment modifications shortened the line length to .