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By Steven L. Shields
The rainy season in Korea in the summer of 2022 reminded me of the biblical story of the great flood and Noah's ark. So much rainfall came in mid-August of 2022 that reporters first said it was the most rainfall in 80 years, then 100 years and then more than 100 years. Korea had too much rain all at once. The infrastructure of the city's well-planned storm drainage and flood control system was overwhelmed within hours. Property damage was incredibly massive. Sadly, lives were lost.
But some sectors of Seoul rode out the storm in pretty good shape. Seoul Metro, arguably one of the finest metro systems in the world, escaped with minor damage. Despite mainly being deep underground, the engineers who designed, built and continue to maintain the extensive network of tunnels and tracks, made sure the trains could still roll regardless of the challenge.
My good friend DJ, who did his military service as a KATUSA, earned a degree in civil engineering and has worked as a member of Seoul Metro's highly skilled team of workers. He inspected station structural integrity and tunnel safety for several years on Line 1. Recently, he shifted to the safety team, where he works to improve all aspects of safety on Seoul Metro, including staff, train drivers, station management and, above all, passenger safety and comfort.
Water and electricity on the tracks don't mix well. On that devastating night in August, when the rain kept pouring down at several centimeters an hour, DJ and the other engineering staff of Seoul Metro were called in for 24-hour emergency duty. Teams were assigned stations on the vast network, where they worked through the night and the next day monitoring water flow, coffer dams and pumps to keep the stations ― but more importantly, the tracks ― dry.
One might be inclined to claim the miraculous for the subway network, but averting disaster has been meticulously planned. Seoul Metro was prepared for any eventuality and had teams on site to deal with problems. I think it was an incredible but entirely invisible emergency response.
DJ reported that not a single area of track suffered flooding. However, a few stations took on too much water and had to be closed temporarily. But the safety screens installed in all underground stations to keep passengers safe do double duty as flood control coffer dams. When the safety screens are closed, water that might accumulate on the station platforms cannot flood onto the tracks.
The millions of people who ride trains daily have no idea about those safety features. I have been in Korea since before such screens were installed. Back then, it was a thrill when the train pulled into a station since there was nothing between you and thousands of kilograms of speeding steel except for a few centimeters of the platform.
Myriad other safety features are also little-known to the general public. The screens have prevented flooding and reduced suicides to zero. The train drivers and the mechanisms in the train's cab also have many important safety features. Some newer trains are automated, and most safety features operate independently (computer-driven). However, in a system approaching 50 years old, some of the lines still operate manually, handled by a staff of 3,000 highly trained drivers.
DJ attended an international conference of metro system safety managers recently, where he gave a presentation about Seoul Metro's safety features, its safety record and how it works to resolve remaining challenges. He shared his presentation with me. While acknowledging mechanical failures and human error, he focuses on resolving human error. In the past five years, Seoul Metro has racked up an impressive reduction in human error while simultaneously continuing to work on the mechanics.
For example, of about 150 reported errors, only 20 were due to human error with their impressive system of cross-checks, visual confirmation and other mechanical safety features. Human error has been reduced to an admirable rate compared with other systems worldwide. But, DJ insists, there is room for improvement. His team's goal is to reduce human error to zero. He believes it can be done. I don't doubt his commitment.
Kudos to the entire team of Seoul Metro, from top management to the entry-level station staff. You folks are an impressive team. Those who live in Seoul and ride the metro daily can enjoy a safe, clean and efficient commute because of Seoul's mostly invisible unsung heroes. We can be rightly proud of Seoul Metro.
Rev. Steven L. Shields (slshields@gmail.com) has lived in Korea for many years, beginning in the 1970s. He is the president of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea. He served as copy editor of The Korea Times in 1977. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect The Korea Times' editorial stance.
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