Seoul Subway Stories bring you interesting and informative stories about the subway in and around Seoul -- Ed.


Carrying millions of commuters every day between Seoul and its sprawling suburbs, Seoul’s subway is known for its reliability. But if your train was delayed, making you late for work this morning, you can request an excuse letter from Seoul Metro.

Records of train delays on Line 1 to Line 9 over the last 30 days are kept on the official Seoul Metro website. Only delays longer than five minutes are logged in the system.

When you click on the specific time slot during which a delay occurred, you are then presented with an official certificate which shows which line and how long your delay was.

You can either print it or show it on your screen to present it as proof that your train was delayed, complete with a seal from the CEO of Seoul Metro.

You can also call 1577-1234 in case your train was delayed for longer than 30 minutes.

Since 2011, Seoul Metro has been issuing online train delay certificates.

“You can also go to customer service centers at each station to have the certificate issued. But because it’s difficult to do it in person when you are busy and (if the delay) happened during rush hour, we decided to make the service available online,” one official at Seoul Metro said.

Based on real-time monitoring done by Seoul Metro’s operation control center, the database is frequently updated, the official explained.