Lucknow: The Lucknow Metro developed a technical fault on the very first day of its commercial run, leaving hundreds of passengers stuck inside the Metro train on Wednesday morning at 7.15 am.
The train was stuck for over an hour at the Mawaiya’s span and the passengers, including school children, panicked as the lights and air conditioner also went off due to technical glitch. The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) technical and rescue team took about half-an-hour to reach the site and check the fault.
Metro officials claimed that there were only 101 passengers on board when the train halted but eye-witness claimed that there were more than 400 passengers, including those who had bought the smart card for monthly travel. An official said the problem was a technical one linked to a ‘traction pump’ but did not elaborate. Officials said that the other train was running smoothly on the parallel track.
The passengers were later brought out of the train through the emergency exit and then made to walk about 300 meters to the next station. The Metro rail fault took more than two hours to rectify after which it moved on.
LMRC public relation officer Amit Kumar Srivastava said that the fault had been rectified and the Metro service was running smoothly.
Meanwhile as soon as the Samajwadi Party workers learnt of the fault in the Metro, a large group of party workers reached the Transport Nagar station and created a ruckus.
The police resorted to lathicharge in which several SP workers were injured. The Transport Nagar station had to be shut down for some time and was later reopened with enhanced security. Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav commented on the failure on Twitter. “The Lucknow Metro had been built and was ready for a while now... The union government, via the commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), took such a long time to give the no-objection certificate... despite that, the metro failed on the first day!” he tweeted.
The Metro was inaugurated on Tuesday by Union home minister Rajnath Singh and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
