Industrial accidents at Korea's major railway operators, including Korea Railroad Corp. (Korail) and Seoul Metro, are rising sharply as overwork among railway traffic controllers becomes a public issue. Despite a series of serious accidents — including a 2024 collision at Guro Station that killed two workers and another incident last year in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province, where two track workers lost their lives — criticism is mounting that on-site safety conditions have shown little improvement. Calls are growing to fundamentally overhaul the safety management system as manpower shortages and excessive shift work compound the problem.
According to data obtained from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service through the office of People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Sang-hoon and analyzed by The Seoul Economic Daily on Sunday, the number of approved industrial accident claims at Seoul Metro, which operates the Seoul subway system, surged nearly 90% over four years, from 56 cases in 2021 to 107 cases last year. Korail also saw a roughly 18% increase over the same period, from 105 to 124 cases.
The rise in industrial accident statistics partly reflects institutional changes, including the expanded recognition of commuting accidents and eased criteria for recognizing work-related illnesses. However, frontline workers say the figures reflect the combined effects of habitual night and shift work, chronic understaffing, and high workload intensity. On Nov. 24, a post by a railway traffic controller on X (formerly Twitter) exposing working conditions spread rapidly and drew public attention. The author, who identified himself as a Korail controller, warned, "Under the three-team two-shift system, repeated overnight work has made sleep disorders routine, and during early morning hours, we reach a state where sound judgment becomes difficult." He added, "When controllers directing train operations nationwide work in such conditions, a single error in judgment could lead to a major disaster."
A more serious problem is that fundamental remedies, such as reinforcing safety personnel, have stalled even after major accidents. In 2024, a track inspection vehicle collided with a maintenance vehicle at Guro Station on Seoul Subway Line 1, killing two Korail employees. The following year, a Mugunghwa-ho train on the Gyeongbu Line in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province, struck seven workers on the tracks, killing two in a recurring tragedy. Korail has since introduced measures such as shifting daytime track work to late-night hours when trains are not running, but frontline workers largely regard these as stopgap measures without sufficient staffing reinforcements.
A Korail labor union official said, "Following the Guro and Cheongdo accidents, a joint labor-management safety task force has been activated to discuss improvement measures," but added, "The aftereffects of workforce reductions totaling nearly 5,000 positions since 2009 have yet to be resolved." He emphasized, "Safety personnel must be urgently filled not only in the control sector, which has recently drawn attention, but across all job categories, including track maintenance field positions."
Such manpower burdens are not limited to Korail. Seoul Metro, where the rise in industrial accidents has been particularly pronounced, carries a uniquely heavy transportation burden per employee among Korea's urban railway operators. According to 2024 local public enterprise management disclosure data, Seoul Metro's workforce accounts for 61% of total employees at urban railway operators in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Daejeon and Gwangju, but handles 78% of total passenger volume. Given the overwhelmingly large transport scale relative to personnel, frontline fatigue and accident risks are structurally high.
A Seoul Metro official explained, "Institutional changes such as the full application of commuting accident recognition and eased criteria for recognizing work-related illness causation have contributed to the simultaneous rise in industrial accident applications and approvals." The official added, "We are working to establish a culture where even minor injuries are reported and treated rather than hidden, and we will create a safer work environment through measures such as mandatory pre-work safety inspection meetings and expanded occupational disease prevention and health promotion programs."
Korail also said it plans to expand on-site safety investments. A Korail official emphasized, "We are reducing accidents caused by human error and fatigue through the construction of AI-based advanced monitoring systems and the mechanization of work processes," adding, "We will continue our efforts to ensure that safe work behaviors and environments take root throughout railway sites."
