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Ten days ago, a KTX engineer was replaced before reaching its destination. It turned out that the KTX cab air conditioner was broken and the engineer was exhausted in the heat wave. The more than 300 passengers on board were also in great danger.

Reporter Jang Hoon-kyung.

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KTX engineer Lee Mo, who left Pohang last night for Seoul, suffered paralysis in his face and hands and feet within an hour of departure.

It was caused by a long time in a high temperature operating environment near 40 degrees.

In fact, the air conditioner had been broken from the morning, but the engineer arrived at Daejeon station and could not stand it anymore.

[Lee / KTX Engineer: It's high speed, so it's open. The train captain came and shivered together, so . You can't stop in a tunnel and you have to drive, so even if I die.]

KTX, the 15th year since its introduction, is known to have suffered from such frequent failures.

The cab temperature soars to 43 degrees and the driver is sweating quickly.

As it is responsible for speed control and braking, the comfortable driving environment is often ignored.

[KTX Engineer: (Passenger side) Fix it first, and the cab needs to be fixed, but if you run out of time, you can let go. It doesn't matter. I sold tickets.]

There are not enough people to respond to emergency situations.

In the event of a driver's problem, the only person who can help is the train team leader and the crew.

[Park Heung-soo / Railroad Research Fellow, Social Research Institute: (train team leader) The person responsible for the passenger safety (like this accident) had an abnormality in the engineer and took action, so that there was a gap in passenger safety. ]

KORAIL said that repairs were not timely due to lack of maintenance vehicle bases, and that it would reinforce personnel such as outsourcing maintenance companies.

(Image editing: Park Jeong-sam, VJ: Min-gu Jung, screen provided by railway union)