The demolition of the overpass at the accident site in Seosomun, Seoul, has been completed four days after a collapse occurred during the demolition work. The Gyeongui Line, which had suspended operations due to the accident, is also set to resume service from the first train on the 30th.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "Emergency demolition of the deck structure above the railway, among the remaining deck structures of the Seosomun overpass, began at midnight on the 29th and was completed at 4:43 a.m., and demolition of the remaining deck structures was finished at 9:40 p.m."
It added, "The Korea National Railway and the Korea Railroad Corporation are also conducting restoration work on the Gyeongui-Jungang Line," and said, "We plan to ensure there are no disruptions to the normal operation of the first Gyeongui Line train the following day."
During the demolition of the Seosomun overpass in the early hours of the 26th, a subsidence of about 2.9 centimeters occurred in the girder, a structure supporting the upper slab, and the work was halted around 2:30 a.m. Later that afternoon, while a site safety inspection was underway, part of the slab collapsed, killing three people including construction workers and injuring three public officials.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government received conditional approval to resume demolition from the Ministry of Employment and Labor the previous afternoon, and began work at midnight that day by deploying equipment that had been on standby at the site. Work was carried out to protect the railway tracks laid on the ground with steel plates to prevent damage, and to fill in sand to prevent impact from being transmitted to the Subway Line 2 tunnel running underground beneath the site. After completing the demolition of the upper structure, six excavators and 11 dump trucks were deployed to carry out waste removal work and other tasks.
Earlier, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said in a briefing on the 27th, the day after the accident, that the work would take a total of 40 hours by cutting the upper structure piece by piece and lifting it with a crane, but it switched direction to the more efficient crushing method, shortening the time to 29 hours.
However, the emergency demolition does not eliminate all structures. Columns with a low risk of collapse are planned to be demolished within 10 days after train operations resume.
