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South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 25th that it is actively consulting with the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other relevant agencies about moving railroad dispatchers to a four-shift, two-team schedule to improve working conditions.
In briefing materials, the ministry said Korail’s Rail Traffic Control Center currently staffs 374 dispatchers working a three-shift, two-team system around the clock. Switching to a four-shift, two-team system would require roughly 125 additional employees, so the ministry is studying a phased transition plan.
Korail already converted its administrative, facilities, rolling stock and electrical divisions to a four-shift, two-team schedule in January.
The operator is running a pilot four-shift, two-team program on some metropolitan electric train lines. For the existing three-shift, two-team night shift (7 p.m.–9 a.m. the next day), Korail guarantees a five-hour rest period within the limits of maintaining service and is implementing other measures to improve working conditions.
The ministry said it has increased direct communication with frontline dispatchers, holding meetings led by the director-general of the Rail Bureau to quickly address operational concerns. It is also reviewing institutional improvements, including introducing intelligent (AI) CCTV to support local control, and said it will continue to collect dispatcher feedback through regular meetings and work on improving pay and work conditions.
The ministry noted that rail traffic control operates on an automated Centralized Train Control (CTC) system, which significantly reduces the risk of accidents from human error. Under normal conditions, the system automatically sets safe routes and controls trains according to preprogrammed schedules.
It added that dispatchers intervene manually only in exceptional circumstances such as accidents or equipment failures, and that joint control by at least two staff members is standard practice. The system is designed to block the setting of dangerous routes that could lead to collisions. Since the Rail Traffic Control Center opened in 2006, there have been no major collisions or derailments attributed to dispatcher error.
Earlier, a user on an online forum identifying themselves as a Korail dispatcher wrote that the three-shift, two-team schedule has caused severe sleep deprivation and urged a move to a four-shift, two-team system. The poster said many Korail dispatchers suffer chronic fatigue and sleep disorders and called for urgent staffing increases and reforms to the work schedule.
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