Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) was the only one among 22 domestic railway operators and railway facility managers (hereinafter referred to as railway operators, etc.) to receive the lowest grade (Grade C) in the safety management level evaluation last year. Gwangju Urban Railway Corporation (highest excellence) and Seoul Metro Line 9 (excellence) were listed in Grade A.
Last November, a Mugunghwa train derailed near Yeongdeungpo Station in Seoul, and Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) is conducting emergency recovery operations. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
According to the '2022 Railway Safety Management Level Evaluation' results announced on the 11th by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, the average score of the 22 railway operators, etc. was 86.74 points, maintaining a Grade B as in the previous year (86.35 points).
This evaluation was introduced in 2018 to check the overall safety management status of railway operators, etc., and evaluates accident indicators, safety investment, and safety management. Additional points are awarded for excellent policies to improve railway safety as a form of policy cooperation.
Among these, the accident indicator score recorded 34.64 points, down 1.1 points from the previous year due to an increase in national railway accidents and casualties. The safety investment score rose by 0.47 points to 18.64 points during the same period, which is analyzed to be effective due to the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act. Safety management (35.01 points) increased by 0.27 points as the number of corrective orders decreased by 35.53% compared to the previous year.
By institution, Gwangju Urban Railway Corporation and Seoul Metro Line 9 received perfect scores (35 points) in the accident indicator as there were no railway accidents or casualties. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that Gwangju Urban Railway Corporation scored highly in management evaluation such as resource allocation for dedicated safety departments, and Seoul Metro Line 9 also received a perfect score (45 points) in safety investment.
On the other hand, KORAIL saw increases in both railway accidents (48 cases → 66 cases) and casualties (32 cases → 59 people), resulting in the lowest accident indicator score among all 22 institutions. Grade C requires partial improvement in safety management.
Jung Chae-kyo, Director of Railway Safety Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Based on the evaluation results, customized training will be conducted for each institution, and for institutions that received Grade C, the railway safety management system will be thoroughly inspected to continuously improve the level."
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