Court: Subway Guardrails Need Upgrade

It has been discovered that the protection rails installed to prevent a person from falling from subway platforms do not properly protect the public from possible accidents.

This was revealed in an appeal case in which a housewife “An” (41 years old at the time of an accident) crashed from the Hoehyeon subway station in June 2003.

Protection Rail Intervals Are Below Standard-

On December 28, 2004, the Seoul High Court ruled the Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transport Corporation (SMRTC) had to compensate An’s family 215.76 million won and said a considerable number of protection rails in subway stations in Seoul was not built based on a fixed interval distance yesterday.

A protection rail is a device intended to protect passengers from falling to the ground when they wait for a subway or get into or out of subways. It is rare that the court pointed out the installation problem of protection rail, mentioning the interval distance of platform guardrails.

The court said, “In the Hoehyeon station where the accident occurred, the interval distance of the protection rails is 291 centimeters but if the rail was installed based on the narrower distance than the current one, the accident could have been prevented.”

The court further pointed out that the protection rails in the subway stations in Seoul were built without any fixed standard, and that the interval between protection rails in the Hoehyeon station was uneven, due to construction worker error.

Protection Rails Should be More Closely Spaced-

The SMRTC manages the protection rails of most subway lines, including the lines that service Hoehyeon Station, and their average intervening distance is 280 centimeters.

Meanwhile, the average distance of protection rails in other stations is 200 centimeters. This means the average interval between protection rails in subway stations in Seoul area is 80 centimeters (the width equivalent of two adult men) wider than those of other stations.

The court noted, “Considering that the door width of a subway is generally 130 centimeters, it seems that passengers won’t have any problems getting into and out of doors even if the SMRTC makes the distance between protection rails 200 centimeters.”

An official of the SMRTC noted, “in fact, a protection rail is a temporary measure for the safety of passengers and the SMRTC will change the rail to a screen door that will completely block the railway line from a platform in order to protect passengers by 2007.”

However, it appears that protection rails are in urgent need of inspection and improvement as 69 stations out of 117 stations of on lines one to four have protection rails.

Ji-Seong Jeon verso@donga.com