Passengers get on and off the subway at Jianguomen Station on Line 1. Photo: CFP

By Li Shuang

Beijing's subways are so crowded that on average, 25 people lose their shoes getting on and off trains every month in Pingguoyuan subway station alone.

To reduce the risk of accidents, one subway station took the initiative to install plastic protection bars in the crack between the train and the platform. Elsewhere, slippers are prepared for those who have lost a shoe.

Pingguoyuan Station, on Line 1, reported that every Monday they recover about five shoes that have fallen onto the tracks, mostly women's sandals. The station thus has prepared 10 pairs of plastic slippers for single-shoed passengers, according to the Beijing Evening News report.

The station has also crafted a device for the specific purpose of fishing for lost shoes on the rails. The six-meter-long wooden stick has a hook on one end and a clamp on the other, the most useful end depending on what type of shoe has gone astray. Often, the passenger has to wait until the end of the day to get a shoe back, after the high-voltage electricity on the rails is turned off.

Other subway stations with slipper services include those from Pingguoyuan to Yuquanlu on Line 1 and most of the stations on Line 5.

Beijing South Railway Station, on subway Line 4, took a proactive approach by in-stalling plastic protection bars in the crack earlier this week.

"The plastic bars are more for people's feet than things that might fall through," a staff member at the station told the Global Times Thursday. The bars are attached to the platform, covering most of the crack but leaving enough space for a cell phone to fall through.

Another two bars, a few dozen centimeters tall and striped in black and yellow, were installed vertically on both sides of the protective screen door, between the screen and the train, to prevent feet from being caught between the two.

Protective barricades pose their own risks, however. On the evening of July 5, a middle-aged woman's hand became stuck in a closing door on a subway at Shanghai's Zhongshan Park Station on Line 2. The train dragged her into protection bar on the edge of the platform. She died shortly after she was sent to the emergency room.

On July 15, 2007, a man surnamed Sun was killed after being caught between a screen door and the train.