Increased anxiety among citizens due to successive operational disruptions on Daegu Metro Line 3

(Daegu = Yonhap News) Reporter Han Mu-seon = Daegu Urban Railway Line 3 has recently suffered a series of delays or interruptions in train operation due to breakdowns and failures, causing inconvenience and anxiety to citizens.

According to the Daegu Transportation Corporation on the 7th, at 2:24 p.m. on this day, the entire section of Daegu Metro Line 3 between Jisan and Beommul Station was delayed due to a train breakdown, but normalized after about 30 minutes.

At that time, when the train heading towards Yongji Station stopped due to a breakdown one or two stops before Yongji Station, the final station, Daegu Transportation Corporation used a follow-up train to drop off the passengers of the broken train at Beommul Station.

After restoration measures, Line 3 train operations have normalized, but the cause of the breakdown is still unknown, and citizens are anxious as Line 3 service delays and interruptions have been occurring frequently recently.

On the 2nd, Daegu Urban Railway Line 3 suffered a disruption in train operations on the way to work due to a failure in the track switch that moves trains arriving at Yongji Station to the upbound line, but was restored in 16 minutes.

Earlier, on the evening of September 7, the lightning protection facility between Suseong-gu Citizens' Stadium Station on Line 3 and Yongji Station caught fire, causing a power supply failure in the entire section, and operation of the entire section was stopped and resumed after about 3 hours.

Since Daegu Metro Line 3 opened as an above-ground monorail in 2015, several service interruption accidents have occurred.

In March 2018, snow piled up on the tracks and service was halted, and in February of the same year, service on the entire route home from work was halted. Additionally, in July 2021, operation was halted due to power supply interruption due to a problem with the power line insulator.

Moreover, the train breakdown on this day occurred just one day after the Daegu Transportation Corporation and the Daegu City Transportation Bureau conducted a joint special safety inspection from the early morning of the 5th to the 6th, putting the accident and disability prevention activities of the competent agency in vain.

An official from the Daegu Transportation Corporation said, “We are sorry that a breakdown occurred despite a special inspection of the urban railway yesterday,” and added, “We are currently investigating the cause of the breakdown.”

The problem of late sending of disaster text messages is also recurring.

When Line 3 was suspended last September, Daegu City was criticized for being late by sending a disaster text message to citizens about the suspension about 50 minutes after the train was suspended.

Delays in train operation on this day were notified via disaster text message 30 minutes after the breakdown occurred.

Citizen Park (55) said, "Not long after I received a disaster text message informing me of a train delay, I received a text message saying that the train was back to normal. Information on normal operation is important, but I hope that we can quickly notify you of any breakdowns or problems so that we can respond."