Reverse-sided Seats of KTX Are Cause of Worry to Some

Many people regard the measures for improving the Korea Train Express’s (KTX) recent problems, which were issued on April 6 by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MCT), as a prescription that is not better than the systems currently operated and that will be hard to implement.

Regarding the reverse-sided seats of the KTX, which make some passengers dizzy, Kang Dong-seok, the minister of MCT, has disclosed that “we will decide as to whether or not to remodel the reverse-side seats of the KTX trains after conducting a survey for the upcoming three months.”

But MCT and the office of Korean National Railroad Service (KNRS) cannot alter the structural system of the trains arbitrarily because KNRS has already made a contract with Alstom, the manufacturer of the rapid speed trains that states, “For the next two years, the structure of seats cannot be easily changed.” At the moment when KNRS touches the structure of the KTX seat system, Alstom will not deal with the maintenance and repair work of the train anymore. Any incidents brought about by these problems will not be the responsibility of Alstom.

Because diverse electricity-supplying wires and sensors are installed under the seats of the train, advanced technologies are required to change the seating layout. In case that KNRS requests Alstom to make a new contract, Alstom can demand further expenses for maintenance and management, minus the expenditure for material and labor costs. Experts have predicted that Alstom will ask for more than 100 billion won for this alteration.

According to this, some experts say that the MCT is conducting this strategy to give passengers time to be familiarized with the reverse-sided seats of KTX. “In foreign countries, the reverse-sided seats have not been regarded as a problem for the previous 30 years. Korean passengers are too sensitive,” remarked an official from the MCT’s rapid speed railway organization team.

MCT has disclosed that the frequencies of Saemaul and Mugunghwa Train will be increased up to eight times and four times in Seoul-Busan and Seoul-Gwangju sections, respectively. But the increased train frequencies may not be enough to cover the high level of demand. As the KTX trains do not stop at Yongdeunpo Station, which is located in the southwestern area of Seoul, during rush hours, commuters suffer from inconveniences. Yet still, the MCT has not prepared any measures for them.

Though MCT has disclosed that “we will reduce Saemaul and Mugunghwa train fares by 10 percent,” passengers have to pay more than five percent increased train fares because the weekday markdown has vanished.

As the countermeasures of MCT have many defects like these, a feeling has been aroused that it is a timeserving remedy to soothe people’s complaints.

Seong-Yub Ra cpu@donga.com