The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) will place a new order and issue a bid notice for a total of 146 cars of the ITX-Maum (EMU-150) trunk-line electric multiple unit trains. Along with this, they will resume the introduction of replacement rolling stock for the Mugunghwa-ho, which had faced setbacks due to past delivery delays.
On the 31st, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and KORAIL said they will issue the bid notice on the 1st of next month. The total project cost is 398.7 billion won. After the notice closes on the 23rd of next month, they plan to evaluate bid proposals, negotiate, and sign the contract in early July. The cars are scheduled to be introduced sequentially from the second half of 2029 through 2030.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and KORAIL said they intend to review a plan to place orders next year for the remaining 184 of the 330 cars whose contract with the previous manufacturer was terminated.
Given the urgency of introducing the cars, this new order will proceed as a negotiation-based contract rather than the existing two-stage competitive bidding. In the past EMU-150 procurement, the two-stage competitive bidding repeatedly raised concerns about delivery delays and quality deterioration due to low-price bids.
KORAIL also improved its bid evaluation criteria to prevent delivery delays in the rolling stock procurement process. Deductions will be increased for companies with delivery delays, and a new penalty system will be introduced for companies that rehire retirees. Tougher deduction standards will also apply to violations of fair trade, such as bid rigging.
The new EMU-150 cars will incorporate new technologies to reduce energy use and improve passenger convenience. A power consumption measuring device and a driver assistance system (DAS) will be newly installed, and the seat knee angle will increase from 100 degrees to 120 degrees.