The Korean Railroad Association (KORASS) held the 2023 New Year’s gathering of those in the railway industry at Kim Koo Museum Library in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Jan. 11.
The latest meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and organized by Korea National Railway (KR), Korea Railroad (KORAIL) and SR. It brought together people in the railway sector, and participants vowed to make a fresh start and promote communication and harmony.
Among about 300 people on hand at the event were MOLIT Vice Minister Eo Myeong-so, KORASS Chairman Kim Han-young, concurrently chairman of KR, KORAIL President Na Hee-seung and SR President Lee Jong-kook.
Chairman Kim Han-young of the Korean Railroad Association (KORASS) gives a speech at the 2023 New Year’s gathering of those in the railway industry at Kim Koo Museum Library.
In his commemorative speech, KORASS Chairman Kim said, “We’ll lead efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and spearhead balanced national development by dramatically expanding railroad networks, making railways a centerpiece of the future transportation system.”
KORASS will lead efforts to establish the Korean railroad industry as a global brand and offer support, he said.
‘Year 2023, a Crossroad of Making a Leap Forward or Not’
In his New Year’s message, Chairman Kim Han-young of Korea National Railway (KR) said, “The year 2023 will be a crossroad of determining whether the Korean railway industry will make a leap forward.”
He called for the Korean railway industry’s transit to a “virtuous” restructure with a more competitive edge and faithfully fulfilling given tasks without wavering while imagining a dream of expanding it to the world.
Chairman Kim urged his executives and staff members to ponder over the extendibility and future of the railway and dream of a railway-oriented world and take a far-sighted perspective.
Chairman Kim said, “Despite difficult conditions, our KR labor and management had joined forces in not stopping future-forward steps.”
Starting with a groundbreaking ceremony for the Gangneung-Jejin Line in January, he said KR successfully carried out given roles by managing national railway construction projects without interruption, such as opening of the Jinjeop Line and double-tracked Yongsan-Gangnam Line and holding of a groundbreaking ceremony for the East-West High-speed Railway Line connecting Chuncheon and Sokcho in October.
Chairman Kim said KR has braced for changes of the future transportation system, caused by space changes of the national territory on top of implementing carbon neutrality while ramping up efforts to raise the railway’s transportation share in accordance with the establishment of the 4th railway industry development master plan.
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