The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 27th that it will install sensors on major components of new rail vehicles such as KTX-Eum and Cheongnyong to monitor vehicle conditions in real time and use artificial intelligence (AI) analysis to predict failures in advance and optimize parts replacement timing. Until now, all vehicles have been inspected (light maintenance) at fixed operating intervals (3 days, 15 days, 4 months, 7 months, 14 months), and this will be streamlined.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced measures to strengthen rail vehicle maintenance across the entire life cycle, including adopting condition-based maintenance (CBM) to prevent train failures in advance. This step comes as train failures such as derailments and fires, as well as delays and other operating disruptions, have increased compared with the same period a year earlier.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), operating disruptions due to train failures (delays of 20 minutes or more) totaled 40 as of June this year, up by 9 from the same period last year (31). In particular, the share of aging rail vehicles in service for 20 years or more is 53% for high-speed trains and 62% for regular trains. They also note that train utilization rates are higher than overseas and that climate change, including heat waves and cold snaps, is compounding risks of vehicle failures.
Once a CBM system is established, sensors will be installed on 16 major components—including the power unit and running gear, signaling equipment, doors, and heating and cooling systems—to determine in real time whether failures have occurred and enable immediate responses. The collected data will undergo AI analysis so that by 2028, signs of anomalies can be detected even before a failure. By 2030, a system will be in place to predict the remaining life of parts.
In addition, an AI vehicle maintenance platform that integrates and analyzes technical documentation, failure and accident cases, and maintenance histories will be developed to build a data-based maintenance system. By 2030, 200 billion won will be invested to replace 30 categories of aging electrical equipment on high-speed trains.
Operating standards directly tied to passenger safety will also be strengthened. If a failure or signs of an anomaly occur in 14 major components—such as power, running, and braking systems—that could lead to derailment, revenue service will in principle be prohibited. If it is confirmed that a vehicle was operated without maintenance, a zero-tolerance policy will be applied, including criminal penalties under the Railroad Safety Act.
Root-cause analysis for major failures will also be enhanced. A cause investigation task force will be formed with participation from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Korea Railroad Research Institute, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, and manufacturers to improve the expertise of cause investigations. Until now, the focus has been more on responses such as parts replacement than on improvements driven by root-cause analysis.
Response systems to reduce passenger inconvenience from train failures will also be strengthened. At major hub stations including Seoul, Busan, Gwangju Songjeong, Suseo, Osong, and Gyeongju, standby trains will be deployed at all times so that, in an emergency, replacement trains can be dispatched anywhere nationwide within 30 minutes on high-speed lines.
An official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said, "It is more important than anything to fundamentally improve the maintenance system to proactively respond to changes in the train operating environment, including aging, climate change, and AI technology," adding, "We will establish a preventive maintenance system and innovate on-site response capabilities and the maintenance base to build a safer and more trusted rail environment."