Thousands of visitors were turned away from the new Line 4 subway after a sudden rush of holiday tourists overloaded the 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) project a week after its opening.

A spokeswoman for the Beijing MTR Corporation Limited said passengers were "briefly stopped" from entering the Xidan transfer station during the 8-day long National Day holiday that ended yesterday.

Such measures came in the wake of a 300 per cent increase in passengers using Xidan station, which is located in Beijing's largest shopping district, just a few kilometers west of Tian'anmen Square, spokeswoman Yang Ling told METRO.