Busan Transportation Corp. (BTC) celebrated the 30th anniversary of Busan Railroad’s No. 1 Line on July 16 at a ceremony that took place in its auditorium in Beomcheon-dong. Participants included a slew of dignitaries led by Mayor Suh Byeong-soo of Busan Metropolitan City, Chairman Lee Hae-dong of the Busan City Council and President Park Jong-hum of BTC, altogether some 400 guests, heads of the related firms, vendors and employees of BTC.
In his congratulatory address, President Park of BTC thanked everyone in Busan has used the services over the past 30 years with great support for the transportation facility. He said he would like to have more support for BTC, which is on its way to being an advanced transportation company like those of advanced nations when it comes to safety, comfort and high style for its intra-city railroad operation. Busan Railroad has four lines with 108 stations. During the past 30 years, the system transported a total of 6.536 billion passengers over a distance of some 228 million km equivalent to circling the earth 5,700 times.
The ceremony included presentations of medals and citations for those who made notable contributions to the growth of the Busan City Railroad, commemorative speeches, the view of videos, and events for invited guests and the delivery of welcoming messages, the declaration of the new company mottos, and the unveiling of the new name board of the head office.
BTC also would like reform its corporate culture on the occasion of its 30th anniversary and renew its management directions under a theme of “Keep the basics, while boosting standards with more passion,” which was declared at the ceremony to make sure that every officer and staff will push for the achievement in line with the motto.
BTC invited those who were involved in the opening of the railroad 30 years ago to the ceremony, along with the engineers, including the driver, Hong Song-in, and then-reporter Suh Won-hai, who rode the first train to cover the launch of the new railroad, to recreate the opening scene of the No.1 Busan City Railroad that took place on July 19, 1985.
In an interview with local press following the ceremony, President Park said that BTC should be on its own financially now that it has the technology and know-how on the safe operation of the railroad. But it still has some way to go. This should be the initial year for BTC for its second “take-off” to erase its deficit and be on its own financially. The rail company suffered a deficit of 173.5 billion won last year and another 220 billion won loss is expected for this year.
Park said, as an initial step, he would normalize its operation, the operation of the city railroad and the city buses should be changed to spur the use of the public transportation system in such a way that the city railroad stations are the hub for city bus lines in Busan and village lines. He will hold talks with Busan City officials on the matter.
He also said the BTC is currently engaged in analyzing the use of the railroad by the residents around railroad stations, especially those stations with many customers, although the number of residents around the stations isn’t significant. The study will be completed in September.
As a means to make the railroad operation in Busan profitable, CEO Park said the BTC should push the 20-20 Plan, which calls for raising the number of passengers by 20 percent and expanding the supplemental income by 20 percent annually to erase its deficit and expand its overseas operation into places like Algeria to expand its profits.
He will try his best to talk with the union to solve the problems as early as possible, while the rest will be resolved through negotiations from time to time. He will make sure that the railroad is in full operation during the morning rush hours, while around 60 percent of the railroad lines in the city will be in operation by non-union members to take care of the operation in place of union members.
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