Seats Disappear on Commuter Subways... Pilot Implementation on Lines 4 and 7 to Improve Train Congestion

From January Next Year, Two Train Carriages Will Remove Passenger Seats
Long-Term Plan to Introduce Additional Trains

Seoul Metro Corporation plans to pilot a project next January to remove seats from two train cars on subway lines 4 and 7 during rush hours to alleviate subway congestion.

The appearance of the Seoul Subway Line 4 train car seats after improvement.
[Photo by Seoul Metro]

According to Seoul Metro Corporation on the 1st, they plan to prioritize selecting train cars with high congestion during rush hours and fewer critical components under the seats after comprehensively reviewing subway line conditions and the interior environment. This is one of the measures to improve train congestion, along with the 'Platform Congestion Improvement Plan' announced by the corporation on the 6th of last month. The project is scheduled to be implemented in January next year.

According to the corporation, the maximum congestion rates for one car on lines 4 and 7 (as of the third quarter of 2023) are 193.4% and 164.2%, respectively. Congestion rate is a figure that indicates how many people are on the train, calculated by dividing the actual number of passengers by the seating capacity.

The corporation expects that through the pilot project of removing seats, the maximum congestion rates per car on lines 4 and 7 will decrease to 153.4% and 130.1%, respectively.

Ahn Sang-deok, head of the Vehicle Headquarters at Seoul Metro Corporation, said, "We judged that removing seats would reduce crowd density by the amount of space freed up, thereby lowering the congestion rate." He added, "In 2005, we removed seats and installed folding seats, but we gave up due to injuries, seat damage, and maintenance issues. This time, rather than folding seats, we will test about two cars with an open design and conduct a public preference survey."

Furthermore, the corporation has set a long-term goal to fundamentally resolve subway congestion by additionally introducing 30 cars in 3 train sets on line 4 and 8 cars in 1 train set on line 7. They intend to expedite the introduction and improve cost efficiency by pursuing integrated orders or contract changes when commissioning the replacement of aging electric trains.

President Baek Ho said, "The corporation is making various efforts to reduce subway congestion, including increasing train frequency during rush hours and hiring congestion safety assistants at major stations. If the pilot project proves effective, we will expand the project so that citizens can use the subway more comfortably and safely."

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