Korea National Railway is a railroad construction and management company in South Korea formed by the merger of KNR Construction Headquarters and Korean Express Railroad Construction Corporation. Its main clients are Korail. It is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.[1]
Korea National Railway was established as the Korean National Railroad Administration by the Korea National Railway Act.
History
During the early 2000s, the South Korean government decided to split the national railroad into separate companies for operation and construction. Consequently, the Korean National Railroad was broken up into Korail (established in January 2004) and Korea Rail Network Authority (established in January 2005 and renamed to Korea National Railway in September 2020), the former managing train operations while the latter maintains the railway infrastructure. Amongst other benefits, this change was promoted as permitting open access across the Korean railway system; Korail functioned as the incumbent operator.
It is responsible for the management of all railway infrastructure in South Korea, which includes the development of railway stations; these activities are governed and set by various railway policies, budget allocations, and safety standards.[2]