HADONG — A hasty reopening timed to a local festival ended in a fatal accident. Police have referred nine parties to prosecutors over two collisions that occurred within about two weeks at Hadong Rail Bike, a tourist attraction in Hadong County, South Gyeongsang Province, including the operator's chief executive, employees, county officials in charge and the operating company itself.
The Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit of the South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency said on the 14th that it had referred eight people to prosecutors without detention on charges of professional negligence resulting in death and injury and of violating the Tourism Promotion Act. They include the operator's chief executive, a man in his 70s, employees ranging in age from their 30s to their 70s, and two Hadong County officials in their 30s and 40s. The crashes took place on May 2 and May 17 at Hadong Rail Bike in Bukcheon-myeon, Hadong County. The operating company was also referred on charges of violating the Tourism Promotion Act.
The first crash occurred at about 12:14 p.m. on May 2 on a stretch of track roughly one kilometer from Bukcheon Station. A sightseeing train struck eight rail bikes that had stopped ahead of it, injuring 17 passengers. The second crash came 15 days later, at about 12:03 p.m. on May 17, on a downhill section about 400 meters from Bukcheon Station. A four-seat rail bike rear-ended a towing vehicle ahead of it, injuring four people. A woman in her 70s died the following day.
Police concluded that the chief executive, a division head and the head of the safety team had failed to properly maintain the sightseeing train or conduct safety training, and had not drawn up the standard safe-operation guidelines required under the Tourism Promotion Act. The charges also cover their decision to keep the existing safety management system in place after the first crash without determining its cause or putting measures in place to prevent a recurrence. The train driver and the safety staff assigned to the train and the crossing were accused of failing to watch the track ahead, maintain a safe distance and relay information about congestion on the line.
Investigators also found failures of oversight at the Hadong County office. Police said two officials in charge decided to resume operations without properly establishing the cause of the first crash or verifying whether corrective measures had been carried out.
The county decided to reopen the attraction in time for a local festival scheduled to begin on May 15, citing improvement measures and the results of an inspection by an outside firm. Police concluded that the process — sending a corrective order on the evening of the 14th, just before operations resumed, and requiring the conditions to be met by the following morning — amounted to a formality aimed at reopening rather than a genuine effort to identify the cause.
Notably, on May 11, before the corrective order was sent, the county issued a press release promoting the festival and saying preparations were complete to welcome visiting families, including at the rail bike attraction. "A train running over hills of red poppies and a rest in the woods make a trip to Hadong complete," the county said in the release.
A forensic examination by the National Forensic Service found defects in the braking systems. On the sightseeing train, braking power was not adequately secured given the stroke distance of the brake cylinder. The accident site was visible from about 140 meters away, but braking did not begin until the train was about 60 to 80 meters from the rail bikes ahead. The forensic agency also said there may have been a malfunction in the mechanism that triggers the braking function on the rail bike involved in the second crash, which locks the wheels when the vehicle exceeds a set speed. Its speed at the time was estimated at more than 30 kilometers per hour, above the 25-kph limit. Investigators also found that the vehicle towing the rail bike had not received approval for the facility change or undergone a safety inspection.
Police questioned 35 people, including suspects and witnesses, over about five months. Some deny the allegations. Investigators also considered applying the Serious Accidents Punishment Act's provisions on serious civil accidents, but concluded that Hadong Rail Bike did not qualify as a public-use facility under the law because it is licensed as a general theme park.
"The Tourism Promotion Act requires operators to draw up standard safe-operation guidelines and safety management plans, but we found that detailed drafting criteria and standard templates for use in the field are lacking," said Kang Dong-kyun, head of the serious accidents investigation section at the South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency. "The relevant standards need to be supplemented so that hazard checks tailored to each facility's characteristics and the posting of safety rules can be spelled out in concrete terms."