Introduction / Sypnosis:

Four heavily armed men, led by a man who calls himself “Ryder,” (John Travolta) board a New York City subway 6 train (aka the Pelham Line, hence the title), then proceed to take control of the train. Meanwhile, MTA dispatcher, Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), is assigned to the Rail Control Center due to an ongoing investigation that he took a bribe to recommend a Japanese car manufacturer for the next subway car contract. The group then uncouple the front car from the rest of the train and hold the passengers of that car hostage. One of the hijackers, Baskhikim, kills an undercover police officer in the course of the action. Ryder and the hijackers settle down on the front car, demanding $10 million dollars in ransom money to be paid within the next 60 minutes. For each minute past the deadline, one passenger aboard his car will be killed. Garber and Ryder exchange conversations though the microphone, while one of the male passengers has a laptop with a webcam, his girlfriend eventually sees the hostage situation through her webcam and provides the live feed to the police stationed at RCC. Ryder accesses his own laptop to watch the stock market plunge nearly 1,000 during the course of the next hour. It is largely implied that Ryder has short-sold the market and invested in gold, earning him a profit far larger than the ransom money. Garber agrees to have the city pay Ryder the $10 million ransom while the Mayor (James Gandolfini) is intercepted by his staff aboard a train in the Bronx and is transported back to RCC.