Passengers see red after not-so-good ride
Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation constitutes committee to probe into the snags
LUCKNOW: In contrast to the dream launch of Metro on Tuesday, snags on the maiden commercial ride of the flagship project gave a not-so-good experience to passengers on Wednesday.
Operation of Lucknow Metro was hit twice in the morning.
Over 100 passengers were trapped inside the train near Durgapur station for more than two hours because of a technical snag that snapped the doors shut. Another train developed technical snag at Alambagh station and the train was stranded for 18 minutes.
The travellers who had to catch trains for other cities from Charbagh railway station complained about the poor technical preparations of Lucknow Metro.
Anuj Singh, 32, a resident of Shringar Nagar, said, “Will Metro compensate if I miss my train. They should not have begun commercial operations if they were not prepared.
They are charging more than any other mode of transport. If passengers are stranded, Metro will earn a bad name for itself.”
The Mawaiyya span is around 22 metres above ground level and curved at 40 degrees making the operations challenging. But, Metro officials denied that this had anything to do with technical glitches on Wednesday.
The LMRC constituted a committee led by director, rolling stocks, Mahendra Kumar, to probe into the snags. The panel will submit its report to LMRC MD Kumar Keshav. Kumar said, “We want to know the exact reasons why emergency brakes were applied in the train. Engineers of Alstom and LMRC are working to remove the glitches.”
“Lucknow Metro is one of the safest metros and such glitches will not be repeated,” he emphasised.
Students of Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha (SCS) led by its vice-president Anil Yadav also travelled on the Metro to know the opinion of passengers. Yadav said most of the people said Metro project was possible because of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Pooja Yadav and Meenakshi Yadav of SCS said, “We are excited that Akhilesh Yadav is still remembered by Lucknowites for his development works like Lucknow Metro and Lucknow Agra expressway. Today, almost all the passengers were of the opinion that Metro was possible only because of him.”