▲ Passengers who were trapped on the Gimpo Urban Railway for an hour and evacuated by track
It was investigated that the Gimpo Urban Railroad accident, where 600 passengers were trapped in a train for about an hour during work hours, was caused by a failure of the integrated control system of the train.
Gimpo Gold Line, the operator of the Gimpo Urban Railway, suddenly stopped on the line between Gimpo Airport Station and Gochon Station at around 6:35 pm yesterday (21st), and as a result of investigating the line train, the Central Processing Board (CPUT) of the Integrated Control System (TCMS) failed. It was revealed today that it turned out to have caused the motion error.
The integrated control device is a device that oversees the main functions of the electric vehicle, and the central processing board is a key component that decodes and executes commands in the integrated control room.
Gimpo Gold Line explained that this device did not work properly and the accident train stopped with the emergency braking system activated, and the other trains that followed were also stopped.
In this accident, about 600 people, including passengers in a train at the time, were trapped for about an hour, causing great inconvenience.
Some passengers complained of breathing difficulties or anxiety.
In addition, all train sections were suspended for 3 hours.
The accident train was running from Gimpo Airport Station to Gochon Station, and as it was an unmanned train, the engineer was not on board.
Gimpo Gold Line disembarked passengers trapped in two trains around 7:34 pm, one hour after the accident.
Passengers walked through the evacuation route installed in the middle of both the up and down lines, and moved to Gochon Station, 2 km away, or to the emergency evacuation area installed in the middle of the tunnel.
During the evacuation process, some passengers fell and injured due to the dark evacuation routes.
Gimpo Gold Line began checking the tracks from 8:10 pm, when all passengers left the railroad evacuation route, and resumed all train operation around 9:45 pm, 3 hours after the accident.
An official from Gimpo Gold Line said, "The cause of the general control unit's failure can only be determined after a more detailed investigation, and sooner or later, we will request an investigation with the electric vehicle manufacturer. We have created an emergency recovery lesson to prevent this from happening again. I will educate them."
The city of Gimpo is also planning to prepare supplementary measures for the problems arising from this accident so that similar accidents will not be repeated.
At the time of the accident, Gimpo City admitted that there was no announcement on the inside of the train, and the train safety officer was not on board.
At the time of the accident, Gimpo City explained that although the general control room provided announcements to all trains and stations, passengers suffered inconvenience because the electric power supply was cut off to the trains that caused the operation disorder.
He added that the reason that there was no'train safety officer' to take care of passengers in the accident train was due to the concern of the spread of Corona 19 that only half of the total personnel were put in, and one person was boarded for each train.
The city of Gimpo plans to conduct a technical review so that even if the electric power supply to the train is cut off, the announcement will be made, while reviewing the train safety officer operation plan to cope with emergency situations.
Gimpo Mayor Jeong Ha-young said, "We apologize once again for causing great inconvenience to passengers due to the lack of prompt measures," and "instructed the Gimpo Gold Line to thoroughly investigate the cause, as well as re-check the safety management and emergency response manual to prevent recurrence. I did."
The Gimpo Urban Railway, which opened last September, is a fully unmanned electric train that travels between Gimpo Hangang New Town and Gimpo Airport Station on Seoul Subway Line 9 in 23.67km sections (10 stops) with 46 cars and 23 trains, used by an average of 60,000 people a day.
This urban railroad is operated by Gimpo Gold Line, a subsidiary of the corporation, according to a maintenance and management consignment contract between the owner, Gimpo City and Seoul Transportation Corporation.
(Photo = provided by reader, Yonhap News)