President Sohn Byeong-suk of Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL).

KORAIL’s Eurasia high-speed design winning the gold prize in professional concept at the iF Design Award 2020.

Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) became the first Korean public entity to win one of the world’s three most prestigious design awards.

KORAIL’s Eurasian high-speed and ticket vending machine won the gold prize in professional concept and a prize in product at the iF Design Award 2020, respectively, KORAIL said on Feb. 10.

iF Design Award is one of the world’s three most renowned design awards along with Red Dot Design of Germany and International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) of the United States.

A total of 7,300 entries from 56 countries participated in the iF Design Award 2020, and 74 items won the coveted gold prize.

The gold prize winning Eurasia high-speed design is a concept design by the KORAIL Design Center, imaging the future of Korea-style high-speed. The design, based on streamlined shape for fast speed, has a motif of a hard, strong shield. The train’s wheel spacing is designed to be modifiable to suit the track.

KORAIL’s award-winning ticket vending machine retains its existing functions, but the size of the product has been dramatically reduced. The machine, optimized with user interface, provides customers improved customer access and convenience to customers in all purchasing processes ranging from ticketing to refunding and to settlement.

KORAIL’s Eurasia high-speed design winning the gold prize in professional concept at the iF Design Award 2020.

KORAIL President Sohn Stresses Safety

KORAIL President Sohn Byeong-suk said his corporation will set aside 1.7 trillion won this year in implementing projects to enhance railway safety.

President Sohn made the remarks at a ceremony to kick off the 2020 business year at KORAIL headquarters in Daejeon on Jan. 2. About 1,000 KORAIL executives and staffers attended the event.

In his New Year’s message, “(We) have to make railway safe so that people can ride and feel at home.” To this end, he said, KORAIL will pour 1.7 trillion won in a budget related to safety.

President Sohn said maintenance and repair equipment will be upgraded to advanced standards to strengthen safety, and steps need to be taken to make crew members’ safety top priority. He stressed a need for utilizing advanced technologies like IoT at railway sites.

He also emphasized life-related safety management like minute dust reduction, realization of social values through service innovation, securing financial soundness, technology development and exploration of overseas business markets.

Prior to the ceremony to kick off the 2020 business year, KORAIl executives and staffers attend a rally to translate safety awareness into action.

The participants pledged to abide by regulations and a code of conduct to strengthen site-oriented safety, ensure confirmation and consultation and choose the safest options.