Seoul Metro faces 240 million won surcharge over unreported near-miss; five Railway Safety Act violation cases approved

[Financial News] Seoul Metro will have to pay a surcharge of 240 million won for failing to report a near-miss in which a signaling officer arbitrarily changed the circuit and displayed a proceed signal despite a malfunctioning track switch.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on the 6th, MOLIT held a Railway Safety Administrative Measures Review Committee meeting in Seoul the previous day and approved these measures. The decisions will be finalized after the parties concerned are notified in advance and their final views are heard.
Four entities that changed their maintenance organizations without authorization were also sanctioned. Rail vehicle maintenance providers must obtain certification for changes if more than 10% of their maintenance staff at a given facility changes, and file a change notification if the change is 5–10%. However, they maintained vehicles using reconfigured organizations without completing the required procedures. Metrotech was fined 5 million won, while Korail, Korea Railroad Rolling Stock Engineering, and Yujin Vehicle were each fined 2.5 million won.
Measures against 35 railway workers were also approved. The violations involved two railway accidents, four instances of mobile phone use, one failure to carry out follow-up measures, and 28 cases including failure to confirm boarding and alighting and failure to comply with signals and speed limits. Two workers received two-month suspensions of their train operator licenses, one received a one-month suspension, and 32 received warnings.
Jo Seong-gyun, MOLIT's Director of Railway Safety Policy, said, "Compliance by railway operators and others with the Railway Safety Act and safety rules is essential to ensuring the safety of the public and railway workers. We will take strict action against such violations of laws and regulations, and continue our oversight and supervision to prevent similar cases from recurring."

[email protected] Jung Kyung-soo Reporter