More than 6 out of every 10 trains operated over the past five years were delayed, while less than 4 out of every 10 people eligible for compensation got what they deserved largely due to lack of information, a lawmaker said Friday.
In the 2011-2015 period, 62.3 percent, or some 654,000, of 1.05 million trains operated by the Korea Railroad arrived at their destinations late, according to Rep. Ahn Gyu-back of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea.
The rate of late arrival peaked at 68.9 percent in 2014 before slipping to 56.3 percent the following year, the lawmaker said, citing related data submitted by Korail. The rate has remained well over 50 percent every year over the five-year period.
Korail cited train malfunctions and overcrowding of stations and railways as some of the reasons for the late arrivals, according to Ahn.
Late arrivals entitled a little over 1 million passengers to compensations in forms of future discounts or partial refunds over the cited period, the lawmaker noted.
However, only about 37 percent of the total actually claimed their compensation due largely to what the lawmaker called their lack of information.
Korail is required to offer compensation to its passengers when an express KTX train is more than 20 minutes behind schedule and when other types of train services are more than 40 minutes behind. (Yonhap)
