[Anchor]

A railway facility project worth around 15 billion won has been suddenly halted recently. This is due to the discovery of suspected illegal subcontracting. The work was originally assigned to an approved company to prevent substandard construction, but actual work was reportedly carried out by an unqualified firm.

This is a report exclusively covered by reporter Kim Minjun.

[Reporter]

Jecheon Marshalling Yard on the Jungang Line, where freight trains from all across the country gather.

Beside the railway tracks, there is a device that looks like a handle.

Called a point machine, it is a device manually pulled to change the direction of the tracks.

Following the accident in March 2022 where a Korail worker was struck and killed by a train during track maintenance work at Obong Station in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, the Korea National Railway awarded a project worth approximately 15.4 billion won in March of last year to convert about 40 manual point machines into an automated system.

Company A was selected through bidding, and construction began in June of last year. However, three months ago, the railway authority suspended the project, citing suspected illegal subcontracting.

Projects commissioned by the Korea National Railway can only be undertaken by approved companies to prevent substandard construction and the leakage of public funds. This is because allegations emerged that Company A had re-subcontracted the work to Company B and Company C.

According to an investigation report obtained exclusively by SBS, technicians belonging to Company B mass-transferred to Company A during the construction process. The report states that "there is room to view this not as individual employment movement, but as an organizational workforce reallocation to carry out a specific project," adding that "the possibility of it constituting illegal subcontracting is very high."

The report also specifies that circumstances were discovered where the two companies issued work instructions through KakaoTalk and other platforms.

[Um Taeyoung / Member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee (People Power Party): (Illegal subcontracting) is a core cause of substandard construction and safety accidents. Since construction costs funded by the public's tax money could leak to illegal subcontractors, (a comprehensive investigation is necessary.)]

The railway authority stated that it has requested the local government to impose a 6-month business suspension on Company A and is also considering requesting a police investigation.

In response, Company A completely denied the allegations, stating, "The railway authority misunderstood pure administrative procedures" and "We have never engaged in illegal subcontracting."

Meanwhile, Company A filed an injunction application requesting the cancellation of the construction suspension, but the court dismissed it last September, and Company A has appealed.

(Video by Kim Sekyeong, Bae Moonsan | Video Editing by Park Jiin | Design by Kang Yunjung)