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| The escalator in Sunae Station that ran reverse for several seconds and left 14 injured on Thursday is sealed with off-limit tapes and fences in Bundang, a planned residential community in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hae-rin
Residents of Bundang, a planned community in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, are raising concerns over the safety of aging public infrastructure, following a serious accident when a subway station escalator reversed direction, only two months after a bridge over a stream collapsed, killing one pedestrian.
On Thursday around 8:20 a.m., an escalator leading upward to exit 2 of Sunae Station on the Bundang Line reversed direction abruptly, causing passengers to fall and pile up at the bottom, resulting in 14 people sustaining injuries to their backs and legs, according to the subway operator KORAIL. None of them were killed but three were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Connected to a department store, shopping district and apartment complexes, Sunae Station is one of the major subway stations in Bundang, a relatively newly developed residential community near Seoul.
Developed in the early 1990s by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Bundang was designed to accommodate approximately 400,000 inhabitants and solve housing shortages in the overcrowded capital. It is now one of the wealthiest areas in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Moreover, Sunae Station, having accommodated over 25,000 passengers so far this year, is one of the busiest in Gyeonggi Province.
While the exact cause of the escalator accident has yet to be determined, the escalator system's age is believed to be a factor, as it was installed in 2009. Elevators and escalators aged over 15 years are subject to precision safety diagnosis every three years, and the malfunctioning escalator was just one year ahead of this requirement.
KORAIL noted the escalator has a reverse direction avoidance system and was diagnosed to be in good condition during a regular inspection last month. The state-run rail operator said it will determine the exact cause of the accident and strengthen safety checks on escalators across the country.
For longtime residents of Bundang, these incidents have shaken their faith in the safety of their neighborhood.
Han Susie, 27, who has lived in Bundang for 14 years, told The Korea Times, Friday, that she has started to question whether her neighborhood is a safe place to live. She now lives in Pangyo, a newer development also within Bundang District, but she's no longer sure what the place will look like in a decade or two, Han said.
Baek Seo-hyun, 32, who has lived in Bundang since 2003, expressed fear about using public infrastructure, saying she never expected such an unusual and dangerous accident would occur so near her home.
"I go there all time and have so many friends living there... It's getting old but I never thought it was that old. It scares me and I don't feel safe using public infrastructure anymore," Baek said.
Whenever she takes a stroll alongside the Tan Stream, with her family, the sight of the collapsed bridge from April, which still remains taped off to prevent access, fills her with unease. She worries that "an accident like this could happen to anybody, anytime" in her neighborhood.
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| Police and National Forensic Service officials inspect the scene of the collapse of a bridge over the Tan Stream to find the exact cause of the accident that left one dead and another injured in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, April 7. Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki |
These sentiments are backed by another recent accident in April when the pedestrian path on the side of a bridge over the Tan Stream collapsed, killing one person and injuring another.
A thorough inspection found that the bridge, constructed in 1993, showed significant signs of steel corrosion and concrete degradation. Other bridges in the area from the same era were also found to have similar problems.
Baek emphasized the importance of proactive steps to protect public safety.
"It may be impossible to renovate the entire town's infrastructure, but I believe there should be an overall inspection for all aging infrastructure and safety measures for problematic facilities to prevent another accident," Baek said.
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