(1) Reasons for Proposal

The Railroad Construction and Railroad Facility Maintenance Act was amended (Act no. 15460; promulgated on March 13, 2018; to be enforced on March 14, 2019) to prescribe that railroad facility managers shall conduct performance evaluations of railroad facilities under his or her management and formulate and implement maintenance plans based on the results there of to ensure the systematic maintenance of railroad facilities. Accordingly, this Amendment prescribes matters concerning routine inspection guidelines, railroad facility history information items, public announcement of the results of railroad facility maintenance status inspections, standards and procedures for work suspension of railroad facility managers, and other matters delegated by the Act and matters necessary for the enforcement thereof.

(2) Major Provisions

A. Lifecycle management of railroad facilities (Article 10 newly inserted)

Require railroad facility managers to register and retain in an information management system information on railroad facilities such as names, locations, and specifications; status information such as the results of routine inspections and performance evaluations; and history information such as the dates and times, costs, and personnel involved in repair work and faults/malfunctions

B. Conducting emergency inspections, etc. (Article 11 newly inserted)

Prescribe that when conducting an emergency inspection, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Mayors/Do Governors shall notify the railroad facility manager of the purpose, date, etc., of the emergency inspection in writing in advance, and shall notify the railroad facility manager of the results thereof in writing within 5 days of the completion of the emergency inspection

C. Safety and ease of use evaluation procedure for railroad stations (Article 12 newly inserted)

Prescribe that where the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport intends to conduct a safety and ease of use evaluation of a railroad station, he or she shall formulate an implementation plan that includes evaluation items and criteria, etc., and shall notify the railroad facility manager of the evaluation plan, evaluation period, etc., at least 2 weeks prior to the start date of the evaluation

D. Railroad facility manager work suspension criteria and procedure (Article 13 newly inserted)

Allow the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to issue an order for work suspension of 1 to 6 months, depending on the number of violations of the law, against any railroad facility manager who has failed to conduct a routine inspection, in-depth diagnosis, safety measures, etc.

E. Public announcement of maintenance inspection results (Article 14 newly inserted)

Where the Minister of Land, Infrastructure has conducted a maintenance status inspection of a railroad facility and has found that the railroad facility requires such measures as urgent repair work or usage restrictions, etc., allow the results of the inspection to be disclosed via the website of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport or the local government or through newspapers, broadcasts, etc.