South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has announced a legislative notice for amendments to subordinate regulations of the Railroad Safety Act, expanding the mandatory installation of CCTV in train cabs to all types of rolling stock. The move gives binding force to a safety device regulation that had until now existed only in name.
MOLIT (Minister Kim Yoon-duk) said it will give legislative notice of partial amendments to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Railroad Safety Act from June 5 to July 15, with the aim of accurately determining the causes of railroad accidents and strengthening safety management.
The obligation to install CCTV in train cabs was already legislated through the 2016 amendment to the Railroad Safety Act. However, a broad exception clause that allowed exemption from CCTV installation for trains equipped with operating information recording devices was operated alongside it, leaving most trains effectively excluded from the requirement. As a result, the National Assembly, the Board of Audit and Inspection, and the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board have continuously raised criticism that the exception provision nullified the intent of the law and limited the analysis of accident causes.
The amendment has two key points. First, the clause exempting CCTV installation in train cabs will be completely deleted from the appended table of the Enforcement Decree, applying mandatory installation to all trains. In addition, reflecting the structural characteristics of distributed-power trains, in which the cab is located in the front passenger car, the installation scope, currently limited to "power cars," will be widened to "power cars and passenger cars."
Second, management standards for personal information protection, including strictly limiting the retention period of video records to 48 hours, will be codified in the Enforcement Rules. In parallel with the regulatory overhaul, MOLIT plans to separately establish operating standards for train cab CCTV, such as narrowing the filming scope and permitting the use and provision of footage only in the event of a railroad traffic accident.
In addition, MOLIT will work with related organizations including the Korea Railroad Corporation and the Korea National Railway to pursue projects to improve engineers' working conditions, while strengthening penalties for engineers' use of mobile phones during train operation to a level comparable to drunk driving.
Kim Tae-byung, director-general of the Railroad Bureau at MOLIT, said, "As we are pursuing CCTV installation to analyze the causes of railroad accidents and strengthen safety, we will fully consider the protection of engineers' personal information and the creation of safe operating conditions, looking after both public safety and the safety of train operation."
The full text of the amendment can be found on MOLIT's website (www.molit.go.kr) under "Policy Materials – Legal Information – Legislative Notice and Administrative Notice," and opinions can be submitted via the website or by mail.
