Woman on tracks disrupts Beijing subway operation

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-01 19:28

A woman jumped from a subway platform in downtown Beijing on to the tracks on Friday, forcing the service to be suspended for about 15 minutes, the operating company said.

The woman jumped at around 3 pm on to the No. 2 Line, which runs in a loop around the center of the capital, at Changchunjie station, a Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Co Ltd spokesman said.

Staff immediately cut power to the line and she was pulled alive from the tracks about 15 minutes later. Trains resumed operating soon after.

It was not immediately known why she jumped.

It was the second such incident in 12 days in Beijing's subway. It is not known if she was injured.

The No. 1 Line, which links the city's west and east areas, was forced to halt for 19 minutes on the afternoon of July 21, after a woman jumped from a platform at the Gongzhufen Station. She was pulled uninjured from the tracks before the train arrived.

Subway operations in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, are sometimes disrupted by people attempting suicide by jumping and hitting the moving trains.

Beijing, the host for the Olympics on Aug. 8 to 24 and the Paralympics Sept. 6 to 17, now has eight subway lines with 200 km of track, transporting millions of passengers daily.

The capital newly opened three lines on Saturday with a total length of 58 km. The Airport Line links the downtown area with the new Terminal 3 at the Beijing Capital International Airport in the northeastern suburbs. Another, the Olympic Branch Line, services the main Games' venues in the city's northern areas. Line 10 runs northwest to southeast in the shape of a right angle.

To ensure a safe Games, Beijing has asked subway passengers to go through security checks by machines, police or dogs at all subway stations through Sept. 20.

Guns, ammunition, controlled knives, inflammables, explosives and radioactive and poisonous articles will be the focus of the checks.