First day, first snag: Lucknow Metro passengers stuck for 2 hrs
LUCKNOW: Over 100 passengers of the Lucknow Metro had a harrowing first ride of the hyped project on Wednesday morning after being trapped inside the train near Durgapur station here for 2 hours because of a technical snag due to which the doors could not be opened.
Because of this, a passenger missed his flight, another fell ill, two students missed their classes and several others reached their destinations late.
That was not all, another train developed technical snag at Alambagh station and was stranded for 18 minutes.
The snags on the maiden commercial ride of the flagship project came a day after it was inaugurated by Union home minister Rajnath Singh and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
In the first incident, passengers travelling from Charbagh to Transport Nagar had to be evacuated from the emergency exit of the train after officials failed to resolve the problem after two hours. The train had to be taken to Metro depot.
“The first ride was horrible. My blood pressure shot up and I felt my health deteriorating as we got stuck,” said Mohan Pandey, a 65-year-old passenger. Other people such as Manik Lal said he rushed for help when he started falling unconscious. “They must improve. Is this the Metro that we waited for so long?” he asked.
One of the passengers Gaurav Tripathi (35), resident of Aliganj, missed the flight. He met MD Lucknow Metro Kumar Keshav seeking compensation.
The train stopped suddenly as the emergency brakes got applied automatically. We are trying to fix it. We’ll ensure that such things are not repeated again KUMAR KESHAV, LMRC, MD
An angry Tripathi said, “I took Lucknow Metro because I thought it will take me to Transport Nagar quicker than taxi. But here I am, missing the flight. I will sue it if not compensated by LMRC.”
The snag occurred around 6.38am on Wednesday when a train going from Charbagh to Transport Nagar suddenly came to a halt before Durgapuri station with a jolt as emergency brakes were applied without the drivers’ knowledge, officials said.
The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation’s managing director, Kumar Keshav, rushed to the control room at Transport Nagar depot but engineers weren’t able to resolve the glitch even after two hours.
The passengers were brought to Transport Nagar on a different train.