The Lucknow Metro’s first commercial run on 6 September was marred by a technical snag that resulted in hundreds of passengers being trapped inside the train for over an hour with no lights or air-conditioning. The train came to a halt near Alambagh station, ANI reported.
Passengers were stuck until a team of the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) came to their rescue. The passengers had be evacuated via the rear-end emergency exit.
An LMRC official told PTI:
There was some fault in this traction and we are working on it. All trains are plying on the other parallel track.
Samajwadi Party Workers Stopped From Boarding Metro
Samajwadi Party workers claimed that they were lathi-charged by the police in Lucknow’s Transport Nagar, and stopped from boarding the metro on the first day of its public run, as per an ANI report.
The Lucknow Metro Rail was flagged off on 5 September from the city's Transport Nagar by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Several other ministers boarded the metro along with the CM and the union minister.
The metro is expected to reduce the traffic crunch on the streets of Lucknow. In its first phase, the metro will run a 8.5 km stretch between Transport Nagar and Charbagh.
The metro’s trial run had earlier been flagged off by former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, ahead of the elections in December 2016. After the elections, the BJP had blamed the Samajwadi Party for ‘failing’ to complete the metro project.
After the BJP-led government flagged off the metro, former CM Akhilesh Yadav took to Twitter to say:
The engine had been flagged off earlier; it was natural that the coaches would follow.
(With inputs from PTI)
(#TalkingStalking: Have you ever been stalked? Share your experience with The Quint and inspire others to shatter the silence surrounding stalking. Send your stories to editor@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)