Normal operations resume on KTX Gangneung line 2 days after derailment accident

GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Dec. 10 (Yonhap) -- Normal operations resumed on the KTX bullet train Gangneung line two days after a derailment accident, the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) said Monday.

The public railway operator said the first train departed Gangneung, about 240 kilometers east of Seoul, at 5:30 a.m.

The normalization comes after a KTX train with 198 passengers that left for Seoul early Saturday morning derailed five minutes after leaving Gangneung Station. The incident resulted in 16 people getting injured.

Since the derailment, around 300 repair personnel and two large cranes had been mobilized to remove the locomotive and passenger cars that separated.

A joint team of transport ministry and KORAIL officials has tentatively concluded after investigating the site that an error in the railroad switch system that controls the tracks likely caused the derailment.

The derailment is the first major accident on the line connecting South Korea's capital city and Gangneung. It opened Dec. 22, 2017, ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The train link allows passengers to travel from Seoul to Gangneung in around 1 1/2 hours, whereas it takes three hours by bus.

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