[Herald Business = Senior Reporter Park Jong-il] Seoul Metro announced that Park Jong-kwon, a manager at its Signal Operations Office No. 2, received the National Medal of Merit at the "Proactive Administration Merit Award Ceremony" held Tuesday at the Government Seoul Complex, in recognition of his work building a safety system that improves train departure conditions at platform screen doors.
Park identified a safety risk in the existing system at center-track turnaround stations — stops where passengers board and alight on both sides of the train — where a train could depart even if a platform screen door on the non-boarding side remained open. He developed and deployed a system that prevents any train from departing if even a single platform screen door is open, significantly strengthening passenger safety.
Center-track turnaround stations have a distinct operating environment compared with standard stations because passengers use platforms on both sides of the train. Under the previous setup, a train could leave while a door on the opposite platform remained open, creating a potential safety gap that required additional safeguards.
Addressing the problem through conventional station-by-station equipment upgrades had been expected to require substantial time and budget. Instead, Signal Operations Office No. 2 drew on its own technical expertise, collaborating with relevant departments to handle every stage in-house — from development and design through construction and testing. The approach saved approximately 2.6 billion won ($1.73 million).
Beyond preventing serious accidents and cutting costs, the new system also standardized the train-departure process at center-track turnaround stations and established a structural safety net that uses the system itself to eliminate human error.
"I believe that small, consistent attention to problems on the ground — and the willingness to act on them — can lead to truly meaningful results," Park said in his acceptance remarks. "Going forward, I will continue to practice proactive administration that puts citizen safety first and raises the safety and reliability of railway operations."
Seoul Metro said it plans to continue pursuing proactive administration that citizens can feel directly, drawing on creative ideas and technical capabilities from the field. The company said it will consistently identify and address on-site improvement tasks with safety as its top priority, working toward a safer and more trusted urban rail service.
Kim Ki-byeong, head of Seoul Metro's Technology Division, said the award reflects the proactive efforts of employees who never overlooked even minor field issues and always put passenger safety first. "We will continue to build a Seoul subway that citizens can use with even greater confidence, through creative on-site improvements and technological innovation," he said.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
