Gradual Emergence of Domestic Railroad Technology Support Results... Up to 100 Million KRW Support per Project

▲ Train Protection System Information Transmission System (Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The first results of the "Railway Equipment International Certification Acquisition Support Project," which the government is conducting with the goal of domesticating railway technology, have been revealed.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 6th that the Line-side Electronic Unit (LEU), a railway signaling device developed by the domestic company Shinwoo ENG, has obtained the highest grade of international safety certification (SIL Level 4) from the German international certification body T?V S?D for international certification acquisition.

The LEU is one of the key railway signaling devices that ensures railway safety by transmitting signal information between the ground information transmission device Balise and the ground signal. Previously, Shinwoo ENG independently developed the Balise in 2013 and acquired SIL Level 4 certification, and this time, they succeeded in independently developing the LEU and obtaining international certification.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport supported 100 million KRW, which is 41% of the 243 million KRW required for LEU product development costs, along with employee training.

With this international certification acquisition, the domestication of railway signaling equipment, which had been sluggish, has taken a step forward. According to the Korea Railroad Research Institute, as of 2018, the technology gap between Korea and the countries with the highest technology in each railway technology field was 94% and 86% for overhead lines and communications, respectively, but only 80% for signal control.

However, through this international certification acquisition, imported foreign products used in the domestic LEU market can now be replaced with more affordable domestic technology. As of 2018, the domestic LEU market size was about 20 billion KRW annually, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport expects that using domestically produced LEUs could reduce costs by approximately 10 million KRW (centralized type) to 15 million KRW (distributed type) per unit compared to foreign products.

The Ministry plans to continue the support project this year as well. Since 2018, the Ministry has been implementing the Railway Equipment International Certification Acquisition Support Project to resolve difficulties such as the approximately 400 million KRW cost and about 31 months required for domestic railway companies with excellent technology to obtain international certification demanded by overseas markets.

Selected companies receive support of up to about 100 million KRW per case, and international certification capacity-building training for employees has been conducted. As a result, 13 support cases were selected, including 4 in 2018 and 9 last year, and about 170 railway industry workers completed the training.

Especially this year, with the budget doubled from 500 million KRW in previous years to 1 billion KRW, the Ministry plans to increase the support rate from 40% to 70% at the start of the project to alleviate initial funding concerns and expand the scale of eligible companies. The Ministry is currently accepting applications from companies wishing to receive new support this year until the 10th.

Hwang Seong-gyu, Director of the Railway Bureau at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "For the growth of the domestic railway industry, overseas market entry by the railway industry is essential," and added, "The achievements of supported companies in obtaining international certification and the economic effects will be built and managed as a database (DB) to be effectively utilized for domestic railway companies' entry into the global railway market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.