Dangerous temporary operation of Seongnam-Yeoju electric railway

It has been confirmed that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) plan to add trains of which safety inspections are not completed properly to the temporary operation of Geyonggang line (or double track electric railway Seongnam-Yeoju line) during Chuseok holidays that are offered to citizens for free. As for the controversial trains, the ministry will issue a certificate of completion for railroad trains ensuring that they completed the process of safety and pre-trip inspections on Monday, one day before starting the temporary operation. However, experts point out that safety related preparations are still not sufficient.

According to the Korail report presented by Minjoo Party Rep. Jeon Hyeon-hee of the parliamentary land, infrastructure and transport committee, two rounds among eight rounds that are temporary scheduled to be run in Geyonggang line on Wednesday failed to obtain the certificate of inspection completion from the ministry as of Sunday. Gyeonggang line is a double track electric power train and runs 56 km from the city of Seongnam to Yeoju City and the line was planned to run for six days for free as a test trip from Sept.13 to Sept. 18 before official opening of Sept. 24.

The ministry considers that there is no problem in operating the line as it issued the certificate of completion for the trains in question on Monday. However, experts say that when a certificate is issued, it takes two to three days for self-inspection for acceptance of each round and two to three weeks for actual operation of the line after taking follow-up actions to resolve issues that are pointed out during the acceptance inspection in general. Gyeonggang line failed to take most preparatory measures that are needed to normally operate the train even in two days before the test run.

"Gyeongchun line that spent six months for preparation before the official run, but Gyeonggang line had only two months and it was quite short time to complete the preparation," a Korail official said.

천호성기자 thousand@donga.com