Cars with even number plates travel on a road in Beijing, July 20, 2008. [Agencies]

Delayed subway passengers

Monday morning's suspension of Subway Line 2 delayed thousands of commuters and caused their complaint.

"The train was stopped in the dark tunnel and moving haltingly," said Ji Shaoting, a passenger trapped in the train near the Chongwenmen station.

She said it was very stuffy and a man's voice repeated over the public address system, "The train is moving slowly because of technical problems. Thank you for your understanding."

"The same words were constantly repeated, but we wanted more information and updates about what was going on as we had been trapped for as long as 15 minutes," said Li Xing, a Beijing regular subway commuter.

She said many passengers in the train were complaining and looking at their watches.

"For many times I have been confronted with such problems since April," she said.

A transport official, however, said Monday that subway workers were still adjusting the new signal system and "we hope passengers could understand that."

Workers had to renovate the signal systems of Subway Line 2 only after midnight everyday to ensure the line's operation in the day and there was no time for test runs as in the case of a new line, said Zhou Zhengyu, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications.

"We still need time to adjust after the new systems were put into use," said Zhou.

The subway resumed uninterrupted services at around 8:55 a.m..