Korea's high-speed bullet train, the Korea Train Express(KTX), has carried over 880 million passengers over the past 18 years.

Marking the 18th anniversary since launching KTX operations, the Korea Railroad Corporation said on Thursday that the bullet train ran over 550 million kilometers, carrying roughly 880 million passengers. It added that the average South Korean citizen has used the KTX service 17 times or more since the first train left the station.

Since its launch in 2004, the number of KTX stops across Korea increased from 20 to 66, while the number of routes expanded from two to eight.

The daily average number of passengers who boarded the train reached 180-thousand in 2019, but fell to around 138-thousand last year due to COVID-19.

The KTX station that posted the largest number of passengers was the Seoul Station, accommodating 55-thousand riders per day, followed by Dongdaegu Station with 24-thousand and Gwangmyeong Station with 20-thousand.

While 85 percent of passengers bought tickets at offline ticket booths during the early stages of KTX operations, 85-point-5 percent of passengers now buy tickets online using the KTX smartphone application.