Railroad Corporation Defect Management Committee Has Never Convened [2024 National Audit]

No Defect Management Committee Meetings Held Due to Refusal of Repairs
Defect Repair Rate Remains in the 40% Range

Appearance of Kim Hee-jung, member of the People Power Party.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The Korea Rail Network Authority has never convened a defect management committee for the repair and maintenance of railway construction defects. As a result, the defect repair rate for high-speed rail defects occurring from 2017 to 2018 remains in the 40% range.

At the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee’s audit held on the 11th at the Daejeon Korail headquarters, Kim Hee-jung, a member of the People Power Party, pointed out, "When there are three repair requests for the same defect during railway construction and no action is taken, a defect management committee must be convened. However, the defect committee has never been convened even once so far."

According to the railway facility defect management process, if the contractor fails to diligently carry out major defect repairs or does not respond to three repair requests for the same defect within 12 months, the head of the implementing department at the Authority must convene a defect committee within one month.

Rep. Kim said, "Requests for action due to poor defect repair performance were made for 15 construction sections," adding, "When I asked for the list of members of the defect committee, I found that the committee itself had not been formed."

He continued, "Contractors tend to accumulate repair requests to secure volume for efficiency in construction costs and defect repairs," and "As a result, they are passive in defect repairs and tend to carry out repairs close to the defect expiration date (10 years) when defects occur." He also stated, "Contractors sometimes avoid maintenance obligations for years due to cost issues."

According to data received by Rep. Kim from Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail), out of 15 construction projects, 9 have either ignored defect repair requests or delayed repairs. Specifically, ▲ 4 cases of ignoring defect repair requests three or more times ▲ 5 cases of long-term delay in defect repairs.

Under these circumstances, the defect repair implementation rate remains in the 40% range. For high-speed rail, defects occurring in 2017 show a repair rate of 45.3%, and those in 2018 show 43.7%.

Rep. Kim said, "To increase the defect repair implementation rate in railway construction, cooperation from the Korea Rail Network Authority, the contracting party, is necessary," adding, "The defect committee should be convened according to regulations to deliberate on penalty points for contractors and review the severity of defects to impose sanctions such as restricting eligibility for bidding."

Lee Sung-hae, President of the Korea Rail Network Authority, said, "We will conduct a thorough investigation with Korail and grant Korail, which is entrusted with defect management, the authority to request defect repairs from contractors," adding, "If necessary, we will actively consider institutional improvements to allow Korail to operate the defect committee."