Subway officials prepare for heavy rain

Beijing subway officials announced they are making preparations for heavy rain over the summer, readying tons of equipment and an emergency team of over 1,000 staff, the Beijing Daily reported.

Subway spokesman Jia Peng said 269 portable water pumps, 28,200 sandbags and 1,500 cubic meters of rock ballast have been readied across all the subway stations to prepare for summer storms. In addition, a team of 1,158 subway staff is ready for flood-related emergencies.

The system will run extra temporary trains during heavy rain for the convenience of passengers. Subway trains will slow down based on visibility, and if visibility is less than 5 meters, the trains will stop.

Some subway trains normally run automatically without drivers, but during rain emergencies the trains will switch to manual mode.