Hundreds of passengers were stranded inside the Metro for about two hours without water, and air-conditioning inside the train also stopped after the halt
A day after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh flagged off Lucknow Metro on Tuesday, the world-class transportation failed in its commercial run on Wednesday when it developed a technical snag between two stations.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded inside the Metro for about two hours without water, and air-conditioning inside the train also stopped after the halt. Later, the Lucknow Metro Railway Corporation (LMRC) engineers rescued the passengers by breaking open the emergency gate of the last bogie.
The LMRC Managing Director, a close aide of Metro Man E Sreedharan, has ordered an inquiry into the snag which jammed the entire system, including the server.
All passengers, including elders and school children, had to walk for more than 400 metres on the narrow and difficult Metro track to reach the station.
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, "Despite inordinate delay in issuing NOC, Metro came to a halt on the first day itself." Later, SP workers held a massive dharna at the Trasportnagar Metro Station forcing the LMRC to close down the station.
Police cane-charged agitating SP workers to break their protest. Half a dozen workers sustained injuries in the lathicharge.
Passengers shared their terrible experience. One commuter, Gaurav Tripathi, who was on his way to catch a flight for Delhi, boarded the train at 6:10 am, but the train came to a halt at 6:38 am between Mawaiyya and Durgapuri Metro Stations.
"All system like emergency calling system, ACs etc had failed once it came to a sudden stop. For almost two hours we were trapped in bogies with no window for emergency ventilation," Tripathi said.
The passengers, however, got only a 'sorry' in reply from LMRC. "I will file a case against LMRC if they did not pay up my Lucknow-Delhi and back airfare," warned Tripathi.
Tripti, another passenger, had got up early to board metro for going to her school not knowing what was awaiting for her. "I sustained bruises on my knees when fell on the narrow track we were forced to walk on to reach the station," complained she after missing her school.
The Lucknow Metro PRO Amit Srivastava said it was due to a technical problem which was removed now. The technical snag led to problem in the LMRC server too invalidating Go Smart Cards of many passengers.
"It was due to problem in the server. The problem has been rectified and passengers would be issued new Go Smart Cards by replacing the invalid ones," said Kumar Keshav, the Managing Director, LMRC.
The MD who was suppose to hold a press conference Wednesday afternoon to announce successful operation of Lucknow Metro's commercial run had to show a hasty retreat following major goof-up on the opening day itself.
About Rs 2680 crore have been spent on the first phase of Lucknow Metro covering eight stations between Transportnagar and Charbagh.
It was flagged off with much fanfare on Tuesday by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. He also had a joy-ride on the Metro along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Ram Naik, Modi Cabinet minister of state Hardeep Singh Puri and other dignitaries.
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 "Lucknow Metro")
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