Metro glitch sees passengers stranded on driverless line
The operation of the Metro's Pujiang Line was halted for almost three hours during the morning rush on Monday due to equipment failure, leaving passengers stranded in and outside stations.
At 7:34am, Shanghai Metro updated a statement on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, that because of the equipment failure, operation between Huizhen Road and Minrui Road stations would limit train speed and the departure interval would be extended. Metro trains were estimated to run more than 15 minutes late along the line.
A passenger surnamed Dong said he was at Huizhen Road Station about 8am, but that operation did not recover until almost 10:30am.
Shanghai Shentong, the Metro operator, confirmed that operation was restored at 10:26am
Pujiang Line is the first APM (automated passenger mover) line in Shanghai. Compared with other Metro lines, the trains on Pujiang Line have smaller transport capacity as the carriages are smaller.
Meanwhile, the distance between each station along the line is also closer.
Due to the breakdown of the Pujiang Line, the operation of Line 8 was also influenced as its terminal station, Shendu Highway Station, is also the origin station of Pujiang Line.
“I couldn’t enter the station because too many people were there waiting for the Pujiang Line,” a passenger who identified herself as Cindy said.
Another passenger said on Weibo that since a large number of people were stranded at the station for almost three hours, passengers still had to line up for about 20 minutes to enter the station after operation was restored.
Shanghai Metro did not specify the reason for the breakdown.
