Hush, hush, tell nobody about KTX safety!

By Kim Da-ye

In the age of global competition, promoting one’s country’s products can be taken as an act of patriotism. But, when it comes down to safety, it should transcend all borders.

By this standard, reactions by operators, manufacturers and regulators of Korean bullet trains, KTX, are disappointing and worth reporting on for the universal purpose of improving the safety and security of people both at home and abroad who may use it now and in the future.

When asked if a string of malfunctions affecting the bullet train developed and made in Korea would affects its exports, most of those involved in export initiatives said that Korea only began recently operating the KTX-Sancheon and minor glitches that do not involve human victims are usual.

In the first two years after their launch, high-speed trains tend to have many malfunctions and this was the case for all countries that have developed bullet trains including France, Germany and Japan, various officials said.

An official of Hyundai Rotem, which manufactures the KTX-Sancheon, was more careful, saying, “The reported glitches could indeed affect the buyers’ perception of the train. But through these experiences, we make efforts to fix and improve the train. We will do our best.”

On Friday, a KTX-Sancheon train started emitting smoke on the way to Miryang Station in South Gyeongsang Province, forcing passengers to switch to a different train.

A high-speed train departing from Busan and heading to Seoul had its air-conditioning break down on Saturday, and another with some 400 passengers abruptly stopped in a tunnel for more than an hour Sunday.

The last two trains that broke down were the KTX-I model which is based on the technology of the French firm Alstom and built by Hyundai Rotem.

A KTX-Sancheon train derailed for the first time on Feb. 11 near Gwangmyeong Station in Gyeonggi Province, later prompting Hyundai Rotem to recall and inspect the trains.

Korea Railroad Corp. (Korail), the state-run railroad operator, declined to comment Monday although its public relations director said last year, “Given the fact that the KTX-Sancheon has been in operation for only eight months, there could be many minor operational glitches. The problems we are dealing with do not threaten passenger safety.”

The press office of the Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI), which joined the Korean consortium for Brazil’s high-speed railway project, also refused to comment, reasoning the subject is not relevant to their work.

An official of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Marine Affairs said that malfunctions without human victims wouldn’t significantly affect the exports of the high-speed trains while there seem to be problems with maintenance rather than with the actual trains.

An industry source in the locomotive sector added that minor problems wouldn’t make news abroad and the domestic coverage of the bullet train-related incidents could be abused by Korea’s overseas competitors.

A Korean consortium including Korail and Hyundai Rotem recently decided not to bid for Brazil’s high-speed train project because it wouldn’t yield much profit.

Having received no tenders, the Brazilian government plans to split the project in two and take bidders separately. The Korean consortium said that it will keep watching the situation with the option to join the next bid if the conditions are met.