On October 2, some netizens revealed that the Wuhan Optics Valley Skytrain was suspected to have malfunctioned in the afternoon, and some people were trapped. On the morning of October 3, a reporter from Xiaoxiang Morning News called the customer service of the Wuhan Optics Valley Sky Rail Tourist Line. The staff said that the damaged carriages were being repaired, and other sky rail carriages were still operating normally, and passengers could buy tickets and ride normally. According to a video posted online, an empty rail car was parked on the track. The door was suspected to be damaged, and a large number of passengers were standing on the platform.
A netizen who claimed to be a passenger said, "Someone in the front of the car deliberately pressed the emergency stop, and the car stopped leaving. The power to the drive system was cut off, and the door could not be opened. In just over ten minutes, two people smashed the glass door. When the glass was smashed, the front door had been opened by the staff from the outside to the inside, and they were preparing to deal with it and restart it, but the glass was smashed by someone with 'malicious intentions'..."
Some netizens also said that they were one of the trapped people who had been trapped for more than ten minutes. They were dizzy and hypoxic. There were children inside who were sweating. The glass was fogged. The staff outside did not open the door. Someone in the car smashed the glass and the rear door opened and escaped.
On the morning of October 3, the reporter sent private messages to many trapped passengers on social platforms, but there was no reply as of press time. The reporter then called the customer service of the Wuhan Optics Valley Skytrain Tourist Line. A staff member said that the details of what happened on the afternoon of the 2nd were not very clear. "I only heard that someone smashed the carriage glass." The damaged carriages are currently being repaired, and other carriages can operate normally, and passengers can buy tickets and ride normally.
The reporter then contacted Wuhan Optics Valley Tourism Development Investment Co., Ltd., but had not been contacted as of press time.
Empty rail is a suspended monorail train. It is a new type of urban rail transit system with low and medium transportation volume, eco-friendly, green and low carbon. Different from traditional modes of transportation, the air rail train body is suspended below the track beam and "fly" in the air. It is called an "air train". It has the advantages of not occupying ground rights of way, strong environmental adaptability, and good landscape effects. It has both commuting and sightseeing functions.
According to public information, the Optics Valley Sky Rail Tourism Line is one of the ecological corridor tourism supporting infrastructure. It is a tourism line planned and constructed to create a "three-way layout" of waterways, greenways and aerial rails in the Optics Valley Ecological Corridor. Its planned total length is 26.7 kilometers. The first phase of the project is about 10.5 kilometers long and has 6 stations, namely Jiufengshan Station, Gaoxin Avenue Station, Gaoxin 2nd Road Station, Gaoxin 4th Road Station, Comprehensive Protection Area Station, and Longquanshan Station. According to Xinhua News Agency, on September 26, the first suspended monorail commercial operation line in the country, the Optics Valley Sky Rail Phase I project, which was overall designed by the China Railway Construction Fourth Institute, was put into operation. This is also the first sky rail line in my country to be put into operation.