Trains operate at 80 pct capacity on 2nd day of rail strike

SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- A four-day strike by unionized rail workers entered its second day Friday, forcing passenger trains to operate at less than 80 percent capacity nationwide.

The Korean Railway Workers' Union began its first strike in four years Thursday, demanding improved working conditions and an expansion of the KTX bullet train service to Suseo Station in southern Seoul, which is exclusively used by another high-speed railway service called SRT.

The transport ministry said 4,783, or 26.1 percent, of 18,302 workers who have to report to work, were taking part in the strike as of 6 a.m., up 4.4 percentage points from 21.7 percent the previous day.

The ministry said the national train operation rate was tallied at 79.6 percent as of 9 a.m., meaning that only 673 of 846 trains that would normally run were in operation. It put the operation rates for KTX trains, passenger trains, cargo trains and capital area subways at 77.5 percent, 75.9 percent, 19.5 percent and 84 percent, respectively.

The ministry has already canceled 1,170 trains until Sunday and deployed 4,950 replacement workers.

ycm@yna.co.kr
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