2026 Railway Construction Technology Seminar held

KTX and SRT, South Korea's two high-speed rail services [Yonhap]
KTX and SRT, South Korea's two high-speed rail services [Yonhap]

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will hold the "2026 Railway Construction Technology Seminar" at the Korea Railroad Research Institute on Tuesday to share advanced safety technologies and innovative safety management measures applicable to railway construction sites, the ministry said. The seminar will discuss ways to prevent safety accidents at railway construction sites using AI, drones and satellite technology.

Railway construction projects utilizing deep underground urban spaces — including the GTX (Greater Seoul Express Railway), the Sinansan Line, the Wolgot-Pangyo line and the Indukwon-Dongtan line — have been expanding in recent years. Calls for stronger on-site safety management and improved safety for surrounding areas have grown following a series of accidents, including a fatal fall at the Sinansan Line construction site.

Against that backdrop, the seminar was organized under the theme "Safety Innovation in Railway Infrastructure in the Smart Construction Era." It will discuss how AI, digital and smart safety technologies can be applied to prevent accidents and enhance safety management at railway construction sites — particularly in underground excavation work such as tunnel construction.

About 200 people are expected to attend, including Hong Ji-seon, second vice minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, heads of related agencies such as the Korea Railroad Research Institute president, the acting chairman of the National Railway Network Authority and the chairman of the Railway Construction Association, as well as representatives from academia and industry.

At the opening ceremony, two ministerial commendations from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will be presented to individuals who have contributed to the advancement of railway construction and design. A policy presentation will be followed by a panel discussion involving experts from government, academia, public institutions, research organizations and the private sector.

The policy presentation will outline a safety construction management direction aimed at preventing recurring accidents at railway construction sites and proactively managing high-risk operations. Topics will include tunnel safety verification using 3D scanning and AI analysis, surface subsidence management above underground construction sites using interferometric synthetic aperture radar, and smart construction management based on AI and building information modeling (BIM).

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar measures subtle changes in the ground surface — such as subsidence and seismic activity — by analyzing differences in satellite radar imagery. The technology is currently being piloted on the Indukwon-Dongtan double-track railway.

The technology presentation will introduce AI and digital case studies applicable to railway construction sites. Topics will include digital inspection of railway structures using reality-virtual convergence technology, AI-based automated risk assessment using on-site video and audio data, and real-time hazard detection using intelligent CCTV, drones and BIM.

"Advanced technologies such as AI, BIM, drones, sensors and satellite systems will serve as vital tools for identifying site hazards more quickly and raising the quality of safety management to the next level," Hong said. "We will actively work with relevant agencies to ensure that the smart safety technologies discussed at this seminar spread to railway construction sites and that a prevention-centered safety management framework takes hold."


hss@heraldcorp.com