KTX lacks proper disaster recovery plan for reservation data

Industry

Published: 20 Oct. 2022, 18:40

KTX lacks proper disaster recovery plan for reservation data

People walk to take the KTX train at a platform in Daejeon station on Sept. 8. [YONHAP]

The KTX ticket booking system for express trains and high-speed SRT trains may face service crashes if disasters, such as fires, occur due to a lack of disaster recovery centers.

An ineffective disaster recovery plan protecting both servers and data was seen as one of the major causes of Kakao’s service outage last weekend.

Disaster recovery centers can immediately recover and restore data and provide backup infrastructure in the event of main data center failure. These centers are usually located far from the main data center.

Korail, which runs KTX trains, operates a total of 33 information systems, including a data center in Seoul and a backup center in Daejeon, according to Korail’s data provided by PPP Rep. Yoo Gyeong-joon.

Korail does have a backup center for its ticket order system. But as it does not have a disaster recovery center, the recovery of data stored in the backup could take up to three days.

SR, which operates SRT trains, will also be affected since it uses the Korail system.

“Both Korail and SR should fully prepare to operate the railway when a similar incident like the recent Kakao crash takes place,” said PPP Rep. Yoo Gyeong-joon.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]