Making the trains run on time is no easy task. Punctuality requires commitment and resourcefulness, just the traits exhibited by Beijing Metro employees who decided to deal with a malfunctioning subway door Wednesday morning by cordoning it off with string and cloth – all while allowing the subway to remain in service, zipping down the tracks with a wide-open door.

The "open-door" policy came into effect at around 9am on an eastbound subway at Sihui Station on the Batong Line, located just to the east of Guomao. The subway carried passengers and operated normally despite its newly-created window of opportunity (as far as safety risks are concerned).

Commuters took photographs showing subway workers hanging an impromptu curtain across the open doorway. Upon the curtain was written the words: "Malfunctioning door; please do not approach."

An unidentified commuter said she was on the train carriage with the malfunctioning door. After a long delay, the commuter said the subway finally departed after employing the stop-gap measure.

The commuter was only on the subway for six stops, and said the open door was a distraction. "I got off the train at Guanzhuan Station, but all that time that cloth curtain was flapping in the wind," she said, pointing out a detail that is readily apparent in a video of the incident.

An unidentified person who answered for the customer service hotline of the Beijing Metro said commuters were never in danger because a subway worker was placed next to the door.

According to this person, the Beijing Metro had no choice but to undergo this "emergency measure":

If this subway doesn't move, then it will block the subway coming after it. It's not as though this train can move off the tracks. That is why we had no choice but to take this measure so that the train can be moved to where it can be repaired.

Open doors on moving subway trains is something that has happened before on the Beijing Metro. Two years ago, a Line 13 subway departed northwards from Wudaokou Station with its doors wide open (shown above). Later that year, malfunctioning subways doors again refused to close on the Batong Line as it traveled towards Sihui East Station.

Likely owing to its effectiveness, the ol' "cover the open door with string and cloth" trick has appeared before. In 2011, a Line 13 subway was only able to depart Dongzhimen Station after subway workers cordoned off a stubborn malfunctioning door with string and cloth, something that also appeared on Line 1 (shown above) and Line 13 the year before that.

For a story that keeps getting retold, we can't help but see the same glaring plot hole. But we guess that it's best to stay positive – when one door closes, another inevitably must open.

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath

E-mail: charlesliu1@qq.com

Images: Weibo, the Nanfang, Sohu News