▲ Seoul Metro
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has resolved to impose a fine of 240 million won on Seoul Metro for omitting a report on a railway near-miss despite previously receiving a corrective order.
A near-miss refers to a situation that poses a significant threat to railway safety and could potentially lead to an accident.
Seoul Metro experienced consecutive incidents where trains passed stop signals without authorization and derailed at Taereung Station in March 2024, Changdong Vehicle Depot in November of the same year, and Apgujeong Station in January of last year, prompting the Ministry to issue a corrective order in October of last year to prevent any reporting omissions.
However, in February of this year, a near-miss occurred at Seoul National University Station where a signal technician illegally modified a circuit to display a proceed signal even though the track switch was in an abnormal state, and the corporation failed to report it.
The Ministry determined that this constitutes a case where Seoul Metro failed to fulfill a corrective action order issued under Article 8, Paragraph 3 of the Railway Safety Act without justifiable reasons, and thus resolved to impose the fine.
In addition, the Ministry resolved to impose fines on four maintenance organizations that failed to obtain certification or file a report for changes despite a turnover in maintenance personnel.
The fines are 5 million won for Metrotech, and 2.5 million won each for Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL), Korea Railroad Rolling Stock Engineering, and Eugene Rolling Stock.
Separately, administrative dispositions were also resolved for 35 railway workers who were levied fines for violating the Railway Safety Act, such as causing accidents.
Three workers received suspensions of their driving licenses (two for two months and one for one month), while 32 received warnings.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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