Prime minister lambasts officials for subway congestion

Riders wait for a subway train heading to Gimpo, Gyeonggi, at Gimpo International Airport Station in Gangseo District, western Seoul, on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo criticized government officials Monday for failing to promptly address overcrowding on the Gimpo Goldline a week after two people passed out during the rush hour.

On April 11 at around 7: 50 a.m., a teenage girl and a woman in her 30s fainted at Gimpo International Airport Station as they got off the train and complained of breathing difficulties.

First responders were dispatched to the scene to provide help.

A spokesperson for the Gimpo Goldline operator said some 300 people were packed in each train car at the time.

Both passengers were said to have got back on a different train that morning after regaining consciousness.

The Gimpo Goldline stretches 23.67 kilometers (14.7 miles) across 10 stations, from Yangchon Station in Yangchon-eup, Gimpo, Gyeonggi, to Gimpo International Airport Station in Gangseo District, western Seoul.

The subway line, which opened in 2019, is notorious for its unbearable congestion levels during rush hour, with some 12,000 people using the line during the weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. to travel to Seoul.

Trains on the Gimpo Goldline have only two cars each, largely explaining the severe rush hour congestion.

Experts blame the Gimpo city government for failing to predict traffic volumes while planning the subway system.

Increasing the number of train cars has proven difficult because each station on the line has been specifically designed for only two train cars.

"If this problem was neglected even after the Itaewon accident, that's wrong," Han said Monday during a meeting with his aides.

A total of 159 people, including 26 foreigners, died from a crowd surge at a Halloween festival in Itaewon, central Seoul, on Oct. 29, 2022, as they were trying to pass a narrow, sloped alleyway. The death toll includes people who died from injuries and post-trauma suicide.

"Why hasn't this issue been addressed by the government?" the prime minister said, according to an official who spoke with the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity.

"This issue should be addressed very seriously."

According to the official, Han ordered his aides to swiftly come up with measures to solve the problem but dismissed a suggestion from the Seoul Metropolitan Government to introduce amphibious buses, saying it wasn't "convincing."

A high-level official from Han's office later told the JoongAng Ilbo that the government wasn't looking into the Seoul city government's idea at all because each water bus would cost 20 billion won ($15.2 million), adding that the policy seemed solely for show.

The Seoul city government and Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs announced Monday that they agreed to establish a bus-only lane from Gaehwa Station on Seoul Subway Line 9 to the entrance of Gimpo International Airport to encourage more commuters to use the bus instead of the subway.

The ministry said it aims to complete the process within a month, much shorter than the usual four months.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN, PARK TAE-IN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]