Beijing abandons plans renaming stations after World Cup teams

Beijing abandons plans renaming stations after World Cup teams
 (20:06) 
Beijing, June 10 (IANS) Beijing has abandoned a plan to rename subway stations after the 32 teams competing in the World Cup in Brazil amid fears that it would confuse passengers, the subway operators said Tuesday.

To celebrate soccer's showpiece event which kicks off Thursday, the Beijing MTR Corporation which runs Line 4 in the Chinese capital had named 32 stops after each of the World Cup teams, with the other three stops being named "Fair Play", "Sportsmanship" and "Footballers of the Year", reports Xinhua.

But some passengers complained on the net that the name change could cause confusion as the nameplates which carry the names of the participating teams were just on top of the originals, the MTR said.

"In order to ensure the operational safety and passengers' convenience, and avoid any unnecessary impact on passengers' travel, names of participating teams will no longer appear in the station," the MTR announced on its Weibo account, a social networking site.