Hong Ji-sun, second vice minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, visits the Railway Traffic Control Center on Wednesday to inspect the railway safety response system in preparation for disasters including heavy rain and heat waves. [Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]
Hong Ji-sun, second vice minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, visits the Railway Traffic Control Center on Wednesday to inspect the railway safety response system in preparation for disasters including heavy rain and heat waves. [Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]

Hong Ji-sun, second vice minister of South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, visited the Railway Traffic Control Center in Guro-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday afternoon to inspect the railway safety response system ahead of summer hazards including heavy rain and heat waves.

Hong also encouraged on-site controllers responsible for railway safety around the clock.

The Railway Traffic Control Center monitors and controls train operations across the national railway network in real time, manages train movements during emergencies such as railway accidents, and oversees accident recovery — making it a core facility for safe railway operations nationwide.

"As climate change is making summer disasters larger in scale and more frequent, thorough advance preparation and proactive response to a wide range of hazardous situations are more important than ever," Hong said. He called on staff to "maintain full readiness so that real-time situation management and swift safety measures can be carried out against various risk factors — including track flooding and slope erosion from heavy rain, and rail deformation from heat waves."


smh@heraldcorp.com