Commuter travel along Seoul Subway Line 2 faced significant disruptions on September 22, 2026, when an equipment room fire at Ewha Womans University Station filled the area with smoke and disabled platform screen doors, according to local transportation and emergency authorities. The incident forced train operators to bypass the station in both directions during peak evening hours, stranding passengers and sending crowds scrambling for alternative buses.
Fire Breaks Out in Machine Room During Evening Rush Hour
The disturbance began at approximately 8:10 p.m. local time on September 22, 2026, when a fire ignited inside the station’s equipment room, according to reports from Seoul Metro and fire authorities. The blaze generated heavy smoke and triggered an immediate emergency response, prompting fire officials to dispatch 53 personnel and 15 vehicles to the scene. Firefighters brought the flames under control within roughly 15 minutes, extinguishing the fire by about 8:25 p.m.
According to Go Ki-su, incident response team leader for the Mapo Fire Station, the fire originated in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. The equipment was designed to supply emergency power to the station’s platform screen doors during utility outages. Officials reported that the fire destroyed 4 out of 270 nickel-cadmium batteries housed within the machine room.
Platform Screen Doors Fail After Service Resumes
To ensure passenger safety while addressing the smoke, Seoul Metro enacted non-stop train operations across both inner and outer circle routes starting at 8:24 p.m., as reported by Asia Business Daily. Authorities ordered an evacuation of everyone on site, and emergency teams cleared the platform. No casualties or injuries were reported during the initial blaze or subsequent evacuation.
Standard train service briefly resumed at approximately 9:03 p.m. following cleanup operations. However, the recovery proved short-lived. Just 15 minutes later at 9:18 p.m., a secondary malfunction occurred when the platform screen doors failed to open properly, according to transportation officials. This mechanical failure forced Seoul Metro to immediately reinstate non-stop bypassing procedures at the station.
Platform screen doors serve as vital safety barriers synchronized with train carriage doors to prevent accidental falls onto the tracks. When power supplies or control signals inside a station machine room suffer disruption, the interlocking mechanism fails, leaving doors locked shut.
Commuters Left Searching for Alternative Transit
The two-hour total disruption to station access created major headaches for travelers navigating their evening commutes. Police barricades blocked citizens attempting to enter the station entrances, leaving bewildered passengers to seek out crowded street-level buses.
Seong Minhee, a commuter traveling from Yeongdeungpo-gu, told reporters that the subway route served as her only direct connection home, forcing her to rapidly redesign her evening route. Another affected passenger, Nam Ban-seok from Guro-gu, expressed surprise at the sudden closure, noting that alternative bus options required significantly longer travel times.
Seoul Metro and police investigators are examining the precise sequence of events, focusing particularly on whether aging equipment or an external physical impact triggered the battery failure inside the machine room.
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