Quarantine, Transportation Cost Reduction, Small Business Support... SR Invests 23.2 Billion Won to Overcome COVID-19

5% Scale of Last Year's Sales Revenue

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] SR, the operator of the Suseo High-Speed Railway (SRT), is gaining attention for its aggressive budget execution to overcome COVID-19. It was revealed that last year, SR invested about 23 billion KRW, equivalent to 5% of its total sales, in related projects.

SR announced on the 12th that the amount invested for COVID-19 prevention and shared hardship, based on last year's COVID-19 response and emergency management performance, reached 23.2 billion KRW. This corresponds to 5% of SR's sales of 473.4 billion KRW last year.

Among these, the largest scale was the suspension of aisle seat sales to prevent customer infections. Although limiting seat supply to 50% was mandatory from social distancing level 3, SR proactively sold only window seats during the holiday mass transportation and level 2.5 periods. The investment in prevention due to this amounted to a total of 19.2 billion KRW, including 4.15 billion KRW during the holidays and 15.05 billion KRW during level 2.5.

SR also actively worked to reduce transportation costs for citizens suffering from COVID-19. It provided fare discounts to about 300,000 passengers in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, which were heavily affected by COVID-19, supporting a total of 716 million KRW. Additionally, to support medical personnel and volunteers in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, SR provided free rides worth about 70 million KRW by transporting 2,373 medical workers. Customers who gave up traveling due to COVID-19 were also exempted from refund penalties.

The cost invested in strengthening prevention, including operating professional disinfection personnel who disinfect stations three times a day and trains four times a day, and purchasing prevention supplies, was calculated at 551 million KRW. Last year, SR disinfected 320,000 SRT cars, covering a total area of 18.9 km², which is 6.5 times the size of Yeouido.

Efforts to alleviate difficulties for small business owners also continued. SR promptly reduced rent from February for tenants whose sales declined due to COVID-19. The total rent reduction amount last year was 626 million KRW. Furthermore, online advertising fees for small travel agencies were discounted by 50% for three months and then converted to free from May.

Meanwhile, SR voluntarily donated emergency disaster relief funds by returning 30% of executive salaries for four months, and jointly with the labor union, raised 26 million KRW in love donations to support vulnerable groups' livelihoods.

SR CEO Kwon Tae-myung said, "The amount spent on prevention and social distancing is not a cost but an investment to prepare a more competitive Korea after COVID-19," adding, "As a public enterprise, we will take the lead in sharing difficulties and overcoming COVID-19 together with the people."

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