Korea Railroad Begins R&D for Domestic Parts Production... Expected Annual Savings of 20 Billion KRW

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) announced on the 24th that it will begin research and development (R&D) to domesticize railway vehicle parts. It is expected that increasing the localization rate through this project will save about 20 billion KRW annually.

KORAIL will take overall charge of the "Railway Vehicle Parts Development Project," which involves a government subsidy of 122 billion KRW, and plans to develop 15 types of railway parts by 2025.

The goal is to secure domestic technology for 10 types of railway vehicle parts that are highly dependent on overseas sources and to newly develop 5 types of future-leading high-performance parts to enhance technological competitiveness in the international railway market.

The localization development targets are 10 core parts of the next-generation high-speed trains EMU-260 and EMU-320. Additionally, 5 parts will be newly developed: 3 for urban railway vehicles, 1 for trams, and 1 for logistics vehicles.

Through this project, if the localization rate of parts for EMU-260 and EMU-320, currently about 77%, increases to 88.6%, it will reduce costs by approximately 20 billion KRW annually.

By supporting the technological capabilities of the railway parts industry, which is mostly composed of small and medium-sized enterprises, it is also expected to contribute to increasing South Korea's market share, which currently accounts for only 1.3% of the global railway parts market.

KORAIL has established the Railway Vehicle Parts Development Project Group and formed a dedicated organization for this project. The project group will manage participating institutions integrally and oversee the entire project, including domestic and international certification acquisition, performance management, and practical application of developed parts.

Kim Inho, President of the Korea Railroad Research Institute, emphasized, "To secure technological competitiveness in South Korea's railway sector, we will strengthen collaboration with the domestic railway vehicle parts industry and continuously conduct joint research."

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