Korea Railroad Attracts 'National R&D Project' for Localization of Railway Vehicle Parts

Overview diagram of 15 types of parts to be developed through the 'Railroad Vehicle Parts Development Project' by Korea Railroad. Provided by Korea Railroad.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) has secured and is implementing a national research and development (R&D) project to localize railway vehicle parts. This project focuses on developing 15 key railway vehicle components that currently have a high dependence on overseas sources.

KORAIL announced on the 24th that it has secured the national R&D project titled ‘Railway Vehicle Parts Development Project.’

The project is a large-scale national R&D initiative with a government subsidy of 120 billion KRW, aiming to create a self-sustaining virtuous cycle ecosystem for the railway industry.

KORAIL will oversee the project and plans to newly develop five types of future-leading high-performance parts by 2025, while securing domestic technology for 10 types of railway vehicle parts mainly imported from abroad, thereby enhancing technological competitiveness in the international railway market.

The high-performance parts to be newly developed are subdivided into three types for urban railway vehicles, one type for trams, and one type for logistics vehicles. Additionally, the localization development targets 10 core components of the next-generation high-speed trains ‘EMU-260’ and ‘EMU-320.’

Through this project, KORAIL aims to raise the localization rate of parts for EMU-260 and EMU-320, currently at about 77%, to 88.6%, thereby reducing annual import costs by 20 billion KRW.

In particular, the project places emphasis on supporting the technological capabilities of the railway parts industry, which is mostly composed of small and medium-sized enterprises, to increase their market share from the current 1.3% of the global railway parts market.

During the project implementation, KORAIL, as the largest domestic railway parts consumer, will reflect market demands in the R&D process and focus its capabilities on managing the overall project progress. Furthermore, KORAIL, research institutes, and parts manufacturers will jointly participate in the project to establish a support system that enables immediate practical application after parts development.

To this end, KORAIL has established the ‘Railway Vehicle Parts Development Project Group’ and formed a dedicated organization. The project group will be responsible for integrated management of participating institutions, acquisition of domestic and international certifications, performance management, and practical application of developed parts, overseeing and supporting the entire project.

KORAIL Research Director Kim In-ho said, “To secure domestic railway technological competitiveness, we will strengthen collaboration with the railway vehicle parts industry and continuously conduct joint research.”

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