Chaotic scenes on Rome subway as Italy steps up battle against pickpockets.

Rome commuters and tourists travelling on the Metro A line were forced to abandon the subway at rush hour on Thursday evening after an alleged pickpocket fled into a tunnel.

Police shut down the city's main underground line between Termini and Battistini just before 19.00 after a man escaped security guards by running down the tracks at the central Flaminio station, La Repubblica reports.

Rome public transport company ATAC activated a substitute bus service as the search got underway for the man who was subsequently apprehended by police, according to news outlet RomaToday.

Last month police shut the central Barberini station for 40 minutes after a brawl broke out between about 20 people on the platform amid a spate of thefts on the subway, according to news agency ANSA.

The situation on Rome's underground has been making news headlines in Italy for weeks, spurred by YouTuber Simone Cicalone whose dramatic footage show his confrontations with pickpockets on the subway.

Videos posted on social media on Thursday showed Rome commuters taking matters into their own hands by forcibly removing an alleged pickpocket off a subway train.

This week Italy's interior ministry announced the establishment of a special police task force, Polmetro, to tackle pickpockets on underground lines in Rome, Milan and Naples.

The move comes as Rome closes one half of Metro A from 10-25 August, between Termini and Battistini, to carry out maintenance works, with extra buses serving the subway route.

Photo credit: Stefano Chiacchiarini '74 / Shutterstock.com.