Morning chaos on Metro lines 1, 2 and 8

Metro commuters using lines 1, 2 and 8 had a chaotic morning yesterday after speed controls were put into effect. 

Train failures, signaling malfunctions and glitches during rush hours were cited as reasons for introducing the controls.

The three busy lines share the station at People’s Square. 

“Metro Line 2 was crazy crowded this morning,” said one social media post.

Another online user said commuting took 30 minutes longer than usual.

About 7am, the city’s Metro operator said on its Weibo account that trains on Line 8, from Lujiabang Road to Oriental Sports Center section were running at limited speeds due to what was described as “train failure.”

About 30 minutes later, the operator added that speed limits were imposed on trains on Line 2, from Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and Zhangjiang High Technology Park stations, because of malfunctions with signaling equipment.

Next it was Line 1’s turn to be affected.

At 8:15am, with the Metro operator said trains on the section from Shanghai Stadium and Shanghai Railway Station were running at limited speed due to train glitches.

Line 8 began to resume normal operation about 7:45am; Line 1 did so about 8:40am.

However, the trouble with Line 2 was not cleared until about 9:40am, more than an hour after the speed limits began to take effect.

With many passengers stranded on Line 2’s Guanglan Road, Longyang Road and Tangzhen stations, the Metro operator launched emergency response plans to deal with the huge traffic.