Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) won a lawsuit on the 1st trial seeking the cancellation of a penalty surcharge of 720 million won imposed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport due to the 'Su-seo high-speed railway (SRT) Tongbok tunnel power outage incident' that occurred in 2022, it was reported on the 27th.
The Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 14, headed by Chief Judge Lee Sang-deok, ruled in favor of KORAIL in the 1st trial of the penalty surcharge cancellation lawsuit filed against the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 14th.
Earlier, on Dec. 30, 2022, there was an incident where the electric supply was cut off on the section from the SRT Namsan junction to Jije Station (about 3 km) in the Tongbok tunnel. As a result of this incident, 167 express trains were delayed by 10 to 130 minutes, causing damages amounting to about 13 billion won for vehicle recovery and emergency vehicle rental fees.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's investigation, this incident occurred when the reinforcement material (geotextile) used during tunnel repair work fell from the tunnel ceiling onto the overhead wire. It was found that the contractor used summer adhesive for the winter repair work and did not install falling object prevention devices. At that time, KORAIL was in charge of SRT defect and maintenance-related duties.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport imposed a penalty surcharge of 720 million won in April 2023, stating that KORAIL failed to adequately supervise the construction and prevent the incident. The Ministry argued that KORAIL was responsible for not properly reviewing the inappropriateness of construction methods and materials specified in the construction plan submitted by the subcontractor of the contractor in charge of the project, as well as the establishment of falling object prevention measures. KORAIL contested this and filed an administrative lawsuit in June of the same year.
The court determined that KORAIL bore no responsibility. According to the Basic Act on Rail Industry Development, KORAIL is responsible for railway maintenance, while railway construction and defect repair projects are handled by the Korea National Railway. Accordingly, railway-related projects are carried out under contracts between the Korea National Railway, the contractor, and the supervising company. The court noted that "the responsibility to review the technical aspects in the construction plan rests with the supervising company."
The court stated, "KORAIL's responsibility regarding the repair project is to ensure that repairs are carried out on time by notifying the Korea National Railway and the contractor of any defects found, coordinating the railway schedule so that the contractor can perform the work safely and promptly, and reporting to the Korea National Railway whether the repairs were properly conducted."
It added, "There is a separate specialized supervising company responsible for the appropriateness of construction methods and materials for repair projects, and there is no legal or contractual basis to view KORAIL as needing to manage and supervise matters outside its area of expertise."