The number of passengers on high-speed KTX and 13 other railroad lines across the country totaled 63.89 million in the January-September period, or 61.7 percent of the 134.4 million recorded during the same period a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Railroad Corp. (Korail).
The number of railroad passengers in Asia's fourth-largest economy plunged from 11.53 million in January to 5.28 million in March as the COVID-19 pandemic spread quickly.
The figure swung to an upturn thereafter and rose to 8.2 million in July before decreasing to 7.55 million in August and 5.77 million in September amid a resurgence of infections beginning in mid-August.
KTX bullet train services were hit hardest with the number of passengers nose-diving 51.8 percent on-year to 48.6 million during the eight-month period.
The sharp drop in the number of railroad passengers came amid a prolonged coronavirus outbreak here. Nearly 24,900 South Koreans have been infected with the novel coronavirus so far, with the death toll reaching 438 as of Wednesday. (Yonhap)