Study of COVID-19’s Influence on Urban Railway Rolling Stock Maintenance Efficiency : Impact of Decreased Passenger Demand on Seoul Metro Line 2

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, urban railways experienced a significant decline in passengers, which in turn led to a decrease in revenue and operational productivity. However, the pandemic brought some positive effects in the area of maintenance. With reduced passenger demand, the operational load on trains decreased, resulting in fewer failures and less maintenance work. This reduction in failures can enhance the efficiency of maintenance operations. In this paper, the researcher analyzed the changes in maintenance efficiency of Seoul Metro Line 2 using DEA to assess the impact of reduced passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic period on failure reduction and the subsequent increase in maintenance efficiency. The results confirmed that failures decreased during the pandemic period, leading to an improvement in maintenance efficiency. Specifically, the analysis of scale efficiency and scale efficiency state indicated an improvement in scale efficiency, suggesting that inefficiencies related to the scale of input and output were reduced. These findings imply that passenger load influences the occurrence of failures and that reducing failures enhances maintenance efficiency, potentially addressing scale inefficiencies as well. This study presents insights for developing strategies to improve railway maintenance operations during periods of decreased passenger demand, especially in response to external factors such as a pandemic.