First day, first snag: 100 passengers on Lucknow Metro stuck for 2 hours

More than 100 passengers of the Lucknow Metro had a harrowing first ride of the hyped project on Wednesday morning after being trapped inside the train for more than two hours because of a technical snag that snapped the doors shut.

The snag 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. Passengers had to be evacuated from the emergency exit of the train after officials failed to resolve the problem after two hours.

“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.

The snag occurred around 7.15am 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 and services suspended for about three hours. Angry passengers complained that they couldn’t reach their destination on time.