[DiaryPoint = Reporter Kim Jung-hoon] South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport voted to impose 252.5 million won in fines for five violations of the Railroad Safety Act. Seoul Metro was assigned a 240 million won fine for failing to report a railway near miss, while four organizations were assigned fines of 2.5 million to 5 million won each for failing to follow procedures when changing maintenance organizations.
The case against Seoul Metro concerns its failure to report a railway near miss even after receiving a corrective order. Earlier incidents occurred at Taereung Station in March 2024, Chang-dong Depot in November 2024, and Apgujeong Station in January 2025, when trains passed stop signals without authorization and left the tracks. The operator was ordered to prevent failures to report such incidents.
Then, in February this year, a signal officer manually altered a circuit at Seoul National University Station despite a track switch being in an abnormal state, causing a proceed signal to appear and resulting in a near miss. Seoul Metro did not report the incident. The ministry voted to impose a 240 million won fine, citing the operator’s failure to carry out the corrective order.
Four organizations penalized over unreported maintenance staffing changes
Four railway vehicle maintenance organizations were found to have serviced trains without obtaining the required amended certification or filing a change report when maintenance staff changed. Metrotech faces a 5 million won fine, while Korea Railroad Corporation, Korea Rolling Stock Engineering, and Eugene Rolling Stock each face a 2.5 million won fine.
The decision also covers administrative penalties for 35 railway workers. Three are set to have their train operator licenses suspended, and 32 are set to receive warnings for violations of the Railroad Safety Act, including mobile phone use.
The fines and administrative penalties are still at the deliberation stage. The ministry will notify the parties in advance, hear their views, and then finalize the measures. The announcement concerns penalties for organizations’ reporting and maintenance procedure violations; it does not introduce new rules for how passengers buy tickets or board trains.