Smoker delays China's newly launched bullet train

New Delhi, Dec 31 (ANI): An unruly smoker stopped the newly launched high-speed train in China and thousands of passengers were left stranded in Guangdong Province.

The express, boasting a designed speed of 350-km-per-hour, connects Wuhan, a metropolis in central China, and Guangzhou City, a business hub in the southern Guangdong Province.

The service started on Saturday, Xinhua reports.

A passenger, who smoked on the No.G1048 train, triggered the alarm and delayed the train that was scheduled to leave Guangzhou at 3:00 p.m.

Several trains were sequentially stranded, until the No.G1048 train started off two-and- half hours later after going through technical checks.

"Smoking is strictly forbidden on the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed train, even in the toilet," said a spokesman with the Guangzhou Railway Group Corporation.

"It could trigger the alarm and even cause equipment failures."

However, the smoker was not caught because he had left several minutes before the alarm bell, the spokesman said. (ANI)