"Combined Railway Project Delays Total 100 Years... Total Costs Increase by 11 Trillion Won"

The total extension period for 17 nationwide railway projects that have experienced or are expected to experience delayed openings amounts to nearly 100 years, data showed.

According to the "Current Status of Railway Project Opening Delays" submitted by the Korea National Railway to Representative Kim Mi-ae of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, on the 10th, the 17 railway projects have been extended by a combined total of 1,200 months compared to their initial implementation plans.

The average extension period per project is approximately 5 years and 11 months.

There were 10 projects where the construction period was extended by 5 years or more.

The Boseong-Imseongni line had the longest extension at 15 years, followed by the Busan-Ulsan line at 11 years, and the Pohang-Samcheok and Ulsan-Pohang lines at 10 years each.

The Samsung-Dongtan metropolitan express railway construction project and the Dodam-Yeongcheon line were both extended by 7 years, followed by the Bujeon-Masan double-track railway (6.5 years), the Seohae Line (6 years), the Yeongcheon-Singyeongju line (5.5 years), and the Dongdaegu-Yeongcheon line (5 years).

Reasons for changes in the project periods included delayed land acquisition, collective civil complaints, design changes such as the construction of new stations and bridging sections, consultations with related organizations, and administrative procedures for the demolition and completion of existing lines.

As a result, total project costs also increased significantly.

The final total cost for the 17 projects reached 37.6667 trillion won, marking a 41.6% increase (11.0668 trillion won) compared to the initial total cost of 26.5999 trillion won.

The largest increase in project costs was recorded by the Busan-Ulsan line at 2.2439 trillion won, followed by the Icheon-Mungyeong line at 1.3491 trillion won, the Seohae Line at 1.3199 trillion won, the Dodam-Yeongcheon line at 990.5 billion won, the Pohang-Samcheok line at 988.7 billion won, and the Shinansan Line double-track railway private investment project at 959 billion won.

However, the railway authority explained that the changes in project costs were driven not only by extended construction periods, but also by the reflection of design results, changes to route and facility plans, the construction of new stations, and increases in compensation costs.

Projects whose openings were delayed due to safety accidents include the Bujeon-Masan double-track railway private investment facility project.

At this site, a collapse accident occurred during the construction of the Nakdong Tunnel 1 evacuation connection passage in March 2020, and partial operations are set to begin in April of next year.

Representative Kim said, "We must thoroughly examine the causes behind the repetitive extensions of project periods and increases in project costs," adding, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the railway authority must step up institutional improvements to clearly manage schedules and project costs at each stage and clarify responsibilities for handling accidents."

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