UIWANG, South Korea – DECEMBER 26 – Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) (President: Dr. Seok-Youn Han) has selected its four of its promising technologies as 2024 Outstanding K-Rail Technologies to develop K-Railway technology into a world-class product.

Outstanding K-rail technologies represent outstanding innovation that integrates Korea’s strengths including the 4th industrial revolution technologies and Korean culture with traditional railway industry capabilities. This selection has been conducted since 2021.

The technologies were selected through a comprehensive evaluation of their technical excellence, commercialization potential, and socio-economic impact. The selected technologies will be developed and commercialized into world-class premium technologies with customized support such as follow-up business support, management of intellectual property rights including patents, certification, and promotion.

Core Technology for Liquid Hydrogen-based Locomotive (Gil-dong Kim, Chief Researcher of KRRI) was selected as the most outstanding technology among the KRRI’s Outstanding Rail Technologies.

The outstanding technologies were AI-based Air Pollutant Concentration Prediction and Subway Air Purification Technology (Duck-Shin Park, Chief Researcher of KRRI), AI-based High Precision Rail Wear Inspection System (Woo-Tae Jeong, Principal Researcher of KRRI), and BIM-based Integrated Operation Platform for Rail Infrastructure Digital Management Innovation (Young-Gon Park, Chief Researcher of KRRI), respectively.

The Core Technology for Liquid Hydrogen-based Locomotive, which was selected as the most outstanding technology, is a 100% eco-friendly technology that generates electricity by supplying liquefied hydrogen in a cryogenic state of -253℃ to a fuel cell and uses it to drive railroad vehicles.

It was developed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas and fine dust emissions from diesel locomotives, and combines a liquid hydrogen supply system and hybrid propulsion control technology.

The AI-based Air Pollutant Concentration Prediction and Subway Air Purification Technology selected as an outstanding technology is a world-class technology that predicts the concentration of PM2.5, PM10, VOCs, radon, etc. using artificial intelligence optimized for the subway environment and maintains a comfortable environment. Export to Taiwan has been confirmed, and export negotiations are underway with Singapore and India.

The AI-based High Precision Rail Wear Inspection System is a technology that automatically recognizes and inspects the wear and defects of rails on railroad tracks to improve maintenance efficiency. It is capable of detecting rail defects and predicting risks, and is a promising technology that plays an important role in preventing railroad safety accidents.

The BIM-based Integrated Operation Platform for Rail Infrastructure Digital Management Innovation is a platform technology that efficiently manages information needed throughout the entire lifecycle of railway infrastructure, including planning, design, construction, and maintenance. This technology aligns with the government's policy to digitalize and automate the entire construction process by 2030, and is expected to revolutionize the railway infrastructure management paradigm.

KRRI plans to provide customized support tailored to each technology's characteristics to help the selected Outstanding K-Rail Technologies establish themselves as world-class innovations.

President Dr. Seok-Youn Han of KRRI said, “K-Rail technology has already reached world-class standards, and we will continue to focus on promoting its competitiveness globally,” and added “We will dedicate ourselves to continuous research, development, and technological innovation to elevate K-Rail technology to premium status.”

Attachment: Images of Outstanding K-rail technologies





Press Contacts

Yoonju YI
Korea Railroad Research Institute
yjyi@krri.re.kr
+82 31 460 5189