"Worried About Bedbugs"... Dark Subway Fabric Seats to Be Replaced with Reinforced Plastic

Seoul Metro to Complete Full Replacement of All Sections by 2029

Strengthened plastic seats (photo below) and fabric seats in Line 3 train cars. Provided by Seoul Metro.

Fabric seats in Seoul subway trains, vulnerable to contamination and bedbug infestations, will be replaced with reinforced plastic seats.

Seoul Metro (President Baek Ho) announced on the 9th that out of 340 cars on Line 3 equipped with fabric seats, 220 cars will have their seats replaced with reinforced plastic seats within this year, and the remaining 120 cars will be replaced by next year.

The corporation decided to completely replace fabric seats due to growing concerns and complaints about environments conducive to bedbug infestations, especially in public places and multi-use facilities. To shorten the implementation period, the corporation is urgently investing 3 billion KRW this year for material upgrades on 220 Line 3 cars and is striving to accelerate the project schedule.

A corporation official stated, “We recently finalized the design for the newly applied reinforced plastic seats to prevent bedbugs in the subway,” adding, “We plan to verify performance through fire safety, harmful substance safety, and strength tests.”

Besides Line 3, the corporation plans to replace all fabric seats in the remaining approximately 1,220 cars by 2029, in accordance with new train replacement plans.

Currently, the seat materials in trains operated by the corporation are mostly fabric at 53.1% (1,933 cars), followed by reinforced plastic at 31.2% (1,138 cars), and stainless steel at 15.7% (573 cars).

President Baek Ho said, “We have consistently worked to fulfill our promise to citizens to improve fabric seats, which are vulnerable to various contaminations, by switching to reinforced plastic seats,” and added, “We will continue to listen to citizens’ voices and seek improvements to create a more pleasant train environment.”