Seatless subway cars to be rolled out on Seoul's line No. 7 from Thursday

Seatless subway trains will be introduced on line No. 7 starting Thursday as part of short-term measures to alleviate overcrowding during morning peak hours.

A seatless subway car is set to begin operating on line No. 7 starting Thursday. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Seatless subway trains will be introduced on line No. 7 starting Thursday as part of short-term measures to alleviate overcrowding during morning peak hours.

Seoul Metro, the capital’s subway operator, announced on Wednesday that it will expand its pilot run of seatless subway trains to line No. 7. A pilot run of these trains has been in operation on subway line No. 4 since January.

Subway lines No. 4 and 7 are the most heavily congested among lines No. 1 through 8. Subway congestion on line No. 4 reached 166.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, while that of line No. 7 was at 152.7 percent.

In the first quarter of the year, congestion on subway line No. 4 dropped to 150.1 percent after seatless subway trains began operating, while congestion on line No. 7 rose to 157 percent.

During morning peak hours starting Thursday, the No. 4 or No. 5 carriage on subway line No. 7 will operate with seats removed, except for 12 priority seats.

The subway operator said that the interior of the seatless carriage will be fully wrapped with graphics, after receiving feedback from commuters on subway line No. 4 that the cars looked empty.

Seoul Metro added that it installed 30 subway poles, 12 backrest cushions and 36 handles to enhance safety. Seoul Metro employees will ride the seatless carriages in case of emergency.

Passengers will be notified of these cars through announcements and notices on train doors before boarding.

Commuters stand in a seatless subway train carriage on line No. 4 on Jan. 10, as a pilot run of such trains begins to alleviate overcrowding during morning peak hours. [YONHAP]

Seatless subway cars may be expanded to other subway lines after evaluating the effect of the adoption, according to the subway operator.

It said that the pilot run of seatless cars on subway line No. 4 was difficult to evaluate for its effect on alleviating overcrowding due to multiple reasons, including overlaps with school breaks.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]