A Beijing subway line, the NO. 2 Line, suspended operation twice unexpectedly in rush hour Wednesday afternoon because of a signal failure.

Beijing police ruled out rumored "terror attack" as the reason.

The loop line, which surrounds the downtown areas of Beijing, stopped service at about 5:45 PM and re-opened half an hour later. It suspended operation again five minutes later and re-opened at about 6:28 PM.

Some passengers suspected that terrorist attack might behind the brief suspension, which the subway company and local police denied.

"It can't be terror attack, or else, we wouldn't have resumed the train service so soon," a man at the duty office of the subway company told Xinhua on the phone.

He said that signal failure near the Xizhimen stop was to blame for the unexpected suspension.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2008)