Land committee audits Korail, Korea National Railway

Yom Tae-young: integration cut costs, boosted ridership

Yoo Sang-bum: rushed move to appease railway union

A National Assembly audit of Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) and Korea National Railway is under way on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
A National Assembly audit of Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) and Korea National Railway is under way on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

Ruling and opposition parties clashed Tuesday at the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee audit of Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) and Korea National Railway over the integration of KTX and SRT high-speed rail services. The Democratic Party of Korea highlighted rising ridership and lower fares as evidence the integration was working, while the People Power Party criticized it as a rushed decision made without adequate review or public consultation.

Democratic Party lawmaker Yom Tae-young, questioning Korail President Kim Tae-seung, said daily ridership had risen 12 percent year-on-year since the integration began, with passengers on the Suseo line up about 28 percent and the public's transportation costs reduced by about 22.8 billion won ($17.1 million). He called the tangible savings for passengers one of the Lee Jae Myung administration's key achievements.

Fellow Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yong-seon took aim at the previous governments' policy of running the two services separately. "Under the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, only the profitable high-speed rail business was spun off while loss-making routes and other public burdens were left with Korail — a half-baked competition system," he said. "This integration corrects the separation that grew out of the specter of rail privatization. It is, in the truest sense, a return to normalcy."

The People Power Party focused its criticism on the procedural legitimacy of the integration process and its financial implications, particularly questioning how Korail — already carrying substantial accumulated debt — would absorb the revenue loss from lower fares.

PPP lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had announced an integration roadmap in just six days after the railway union threatened a strike in December last year demanding unification of the two services. "This was a rushed move by the government to immediately accommodate the persistent demands of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions," he said.

Yoo added that Korail had until recently insisted fare increases were unavoidable, only to abruptly announce a 10 percent cut at the government's request. "In a structure where debt keeps piling up, cutting fares this way is deceiving the public," he said.

PPP lawmaker Eom Tae-young also said the integration decision had not been subjected to sufficient scrutiny.

"Despite being a major decision to dismantle a competitive operating structure that had been in place for 13 years, there was a lack of objective assessment reports and public hearings," Eom said. "There were criticisms that the timeline was rushed simply because it was President Lee Jae Myung's campaign pledge, and concerns that the integration was designed to strengthen the union's collective bargaining power."


mp1256@heraldcorp.com