Current Research Activities for Railway Transportation Development in South Korea

HYUNGCHUL KIM, Ph.D.
Principal Researcher, Korea Railroad Research Institute


SEUNGKWON SHIN, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Science & Technology

This presentation is about current research activities for railway development in South Korea; focused on high-speed train and urban transit systems. The speech will include:
• First, railway network in South Korea will be explained together with how the infrastructure and traffic volume are expanded according to national development plan.
• Second, high speed rail, as being one of the hottest issues, will be introduced. Development and advances in high speed rail system in response to growing demand will be explained. This section will also include development of super speed trains in some countries.
• Third section is devoted to urban transit systems of various types. Light-rail, wireless tram, bimodal and PRT (personal rapid transit) systems will be explained with corresponding benefits and disadvantages. Improvement towards more economic, more comfortable, and safer transportation systems will be introduced.
• Finally, the trace of development will be summarized and discussed for future railway transportation horizon.

Biographies: Dr.Kim got his BSc and MSc degrees from Korea University and PhD degree from Texas A&M University. He joined Korea Railroad Research Institute in 2004 where he is still serving as a Principal researcher. He has participated several projects including Conditional assessment of railway electric facilities (2016-2017), Development of traction power systems in ultra-high speed train (2008-2009), Establishment of safety regulations and guidelines for Korean railroad infrastructures.(2004-2008), Probabilistic Harmonic Analysis in a Traction Power System (2006). He is also in collaboration with University of Science&Technology since 2006 and now serving as a Professor.

Dr.Shin got his BSc, MSc and PhD degrees from Sungkyunkwan University-Korea. He has been a researcher at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute during 2001-2003. Then he joined Korea Railroad Research Institute in 2004 where he is still serving as a Principal researcher. He has participated several projects including Abnormal Condition Prediction System Development of Electric Railway Facility using Data Mining Method (2018-now), Conditional Assessment of Railway Electric Facilities (2016-2017), Development of Energy Saving Technology in Urban Railway Station, (2013-2018), Development of the integrated Smart Railway Platform for the Green Railway Infrastructure Construction (2011-2015), Planning of High-speed Maglev (2010-2011). He is also serving as a professor at University of Science&Technology.