>Beijing, China -- ONE of Beijing's most important subway lines seized up yesterday under the burden of passenger surge on the first working day of pre-Olympic traffic restrictions.
Train workers were forced to close stations to avoid overcrowding.
Passengers were allowed off Line 2, which runs in a loop around central Beijing, but not on to it. At least one major transfer station, at Jianguomen, was closed.
"There is a big crush of passengers. We've had to close the line for safety reasons," said a worker of the Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Co Ltd.
Another official, however, said the hiccup was due to a signalling problem on one of the trains. The malfunction slowed down service along the entire line, creating a large backlog of passengers at all stations, said the official, Mr Jia Peng.
The subway authorities were forced to close a few stations briefly, he added, before reopening them at 8.55am.
New rules to ease congestions on Beijing's roads ahead of the Olympics next month kicked in on Sunday. Cars are banned on alternate days depending on their licence plate number and most official cars have been impounded. Only
taxis, buses and vehicles used for the Olympics are exempt.
The government hopes to take around 60 per cent of the city's 3.3 million cars off the roads and reduce emissions by two-thirds over the two months until the end of the Paralympic Games in mid-September.
The restrictions, however, are expected to force an extra four million people on to public transport every day, said the city government.
"The subway is much more crowded than it was," said commuter Zhao Xiaohua. "I could not unfold the newspaper as I normally do in the train," he said.
Three new subway lines opened over the weekend to help take up the burden from the traffic restrictions. Streets were noticeably quieter yesterday, but still busy during the morning rush hour.
Besides the unprecedented spike in passengers, Beijing's subway was also disrupted by an apparent suicide attempt.
Line 1, the city's key eastwest line, was closed for nearly 20 minutes in the afternoon after a woman jumped onto
the tracks. She was pulled to safety and services immediately resumed. -- REUTERS, XINHUA
