Seoul to remove outdated subway wheelchair lifts

Participants hold a "die-in" demonstration on the platform of Banwoldang Station on Daegu Metro Line 2 in Jung-gu, Daegu on June 27, where they lie down dead as a sign of protest against discrimination during a press conference calling for the rights of people with disabilities to be guaranteed. (Yonhap)

Wheelchair lifts, also known as platform lifts will be removed in subway stations across Seoul after some 30 years since their implementation over continuously raised safety issues.

Seoul Metro, an operator of the city's subway service from Line Nos. 1 to 8, said Sunday it will demolish lifts, once thought as a mobility support for the physically impaired, issuing a tender notice for the removal of 23 wheelchair lifts in 17 subway stations, including Seoul Station, Sinseoldong Station, Yongdap Station, Changdong Station and Seodaemun Station.

The plan comes after the city's underground traffic operator decided to install elevators in every subway station to improve public transportation and pedestrian environments and increase mobility for people with disabilities and the elderly.

They aim to accomplish "one station, one-way move" across every subway station in the city, which means that people with disabilities can move from the ground to the platform without the help of other people.

Designed to raise a wheelchair and its occupant to overcome a step or similar vertical barrier, wheelchair lifts were first installed at the General Sports Complex Station on Line No. 2 during the 1988 Paralympic Games.

They were later installed in other subway stations in earnest after the act to improve the convenience of the disabled, the elderly and pregnant women was enacted in 1997.

Despite the aim to bring convenience to the disabled, they have been controversial due to frequent breakdowns and accidents. The debate was heated after a couple in their 70s with disabilities fell from a wheelchair lift in Oido Station in 2001, resulting in the wife's death and the husband being severely injured.

In October 2017, a man with a disability fell a flight of stairs while using a lift at Shingil Station and died.

Human rights activists for the disabled have called for elevators in every subway station for a safe route for the disabled to move by themselves.

The cost of the demolition is approximately 69 million won ($50,178), and the construction period will take 60 days.

Currently, there are 103 wheelchair lifts still installed at subway stations managed by the Seoul Metro, and about a quarter of them will be removed first.

"The lifts will be removed where the lines have been secured to ensure passenger safety and sufficient movement," explained a construction official.

However, in some stations, as removing wheelchair lifts can lead to excessively long routes, the Seoul Metro plans to remove the lifts after consulting with relevant organizations such as the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Korea Elevator Safety Corporation.

By Choi Jeong-yoon(jychoi@heraldcorp.com)