Seoul City: "Missing Rebar at GTX Samseong Station Site Reported to National Railroad Authority Three Times"

"Construction Continued After Safety Review Confirmed No Structural Issues," City Explains

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on May 18 that it had reported the issue of missing rebar in the Greater Seoul Metropolitan Express Railway (GTX)-A Samseong Station construction section to the National Railroad Authority a total of three times, amid controversy over the delayed reporting of the incident.

The underground space complex development site on Yeongdong-daero of the Greater Seoul Metropolitan Area Express Train (GTX)-A line, where a controversy over missing rebar has arisen. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to a press reference released by the city that day, “In accordance with the relevant procedures outlined in the main construction consignment agreement between the city and the National Railroad Authority, the city submitted a total of three official reports to the authority, each including the supervision report detailing the missing main column rebar.”

Earlier, on May 15, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that an on-site construction error had been confirmed in the GTX-A Samseong Station section and that they had initiated emergency site inspections and other measures. The ministry pointed out that although the Seoul Metropolitan Government became aware of the construction error in November last year, it did not report it to the ministry until the end of April this year, which they identified as an issue. Based on this, the ministry has commenced an audit of both the National Railroad Authority and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government countered that it had reported the supervision reports, which included the missing rebar issue in the Samseong Station section, to the National Railroad Authority on November 13 and December 12 last year, and January 16 this year—a total of three times—and released copies of the relevant official documents on this day.

The document copies released by the city show that the Seoul Urban Infrastructure Headquarters sent monthly construction project management reports for the underground complex development project on Yeongdong-daero for October, November, and December of last year to the National Railroad Authority as attachments.

Regarding criticism that the city pressed ahead with construction despite being notified of the missing rebar, the Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, “Upon notification from the contractor, we immediately conducted an on-site safety inspection,” and added, “A review of the structural safety found that the building columns could sufficiently withstand the loads, confirming there were no safety concerns for the structure, and construction was therefore continued.”

The city also stated that it comprehensively reviewed the structural stability, constructability, and future maintenance impact of the reinforcement method proposed by Hyundai Engineering & Construction. It added that, after the contractor submitted the final construction plan for column reinforcement on March 17, it reviewed the field applicability and finalized the reinforcement plan in April, sharing these details with the National Railroad Authority and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on April 24 and 29, respectively.

The city stated, “This case is an example of the contractor identifying the error according to the city’s current safety management system and preemptively preventing safety issues through expert review.”

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