Korea Railroad "Special Inspection at SRT Derailment Site... Full Effort to Prevent Recurrence"

President Na Hee-seung of Korea Railroad (second from the left) is visiting Daejeon Marshalling Yard Station on the 3rd to observe the rail watering process. Photo by Korea Railroad

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) announced on the 3rd that it conducted a special inspection around Daejeon Marshalling Yard Station related to the SRT derailment accident and selected nationwide safety-vulnerable areas to take preemptive measures to prevent similar accidents from recurring.

On the same day, KORAIL President Na Hee-seung personally visited Daejeon Marshalling Yard Station along with heads of related departments such as the KORAIL Safety and Technology Headquarters to check the on-site safety situation.

Since it is expected to take a considerable amount of time to identify the causes of the derailment accident, the purpose is to maintain vigilance at the site through safety inspection activities.

Earlier, KORAIL completed a comprehensive inspection of facilities similar to the accident site by implementing emergency weekend duty.

In addition, to improve track safety, KORAIL selected 150 locations nationwide where ventilation is poor and rail temperatures tend to rise sharply, and carried out watering and gravel replenishment work.

In particular, following the directive of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, KORAIL decided to conduct special inspections of vulnerable sections such as where high-speed trains pass through general tracks or where trains diverge, and to implement all technical measures that can guarantee safety.

KORAIL President Na Hee-seung said, “We sincerely apologize for causing concern to the public,” and added, “KORAIL will closely cooperate with related organizations to prevent similar accidents from recurring and strive to create an environment where the public can safely use the railroad.”

Meanwhile, on the 1st, at Daejeon Marshalling Yard Station, an SRT high-speed train traveling from Busan to Suseo Station made an emergency stop, causing the train to derail. As a result of this accident, 11 out of 380 passengers were injured, and 7 were transported to the hospital.