Rail Strike Day 2 Afternoon Train Operation Rate at 68.8%

Strike Participation Rate Rises to 27.2%

As the railway union strike continues, KTX is operating at 67% of its normal level. On the 6th, the train departure information board in the waiting room of Seoul Station displays a notice of train service suspension. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that as of 3 p.m. on the 6th, the second day of the indefinite general strike by the railroad union, the average operation rate of all trains was at 68.8% of the usual level.

This is a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from 69.7% at 9 a.m. that day and 8.8 percentage points from 77.6% at 3 p.m. the previous day. Trains are operating at 100.5% of the original plan through the deployment of substitute personnel and other measures.

The operation rates by train type are 75.1% for metropolitan subway trains, 68.1% for KTX, 58.4% for passenger trains, and 20.6% for freight trains.

The participation rate in the railroad strike as of 3 p.m. on the second day was 27.2%, up 1.4 percentage points from 7 a.m. that day and 5.1 percentage points from the previous day.

Due to the railroad strike reducing train operations, the number of KTX passengers (185,869) the previous day decreased by 20.1% compared to a month ago and by 10.7% compared to a year ago.

Baek Won-guk, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Head of the Emergency Transportation Countermeasures Headquarters), visited Seoul Station that afternoon to check the train operation status and strike situation. Vice Minister Baek said, "Since long-distance railroad demand such as KTX is expected to increase on weekends compared to weekdays, we will do our best to implement emergency transportation measures to minimize inconvenience to the public, and mobilize all available resources to ensure safety and manage congestion."