Lucknow Metro Rail service temporarily stopped near Alambagh station due to technical glitches, on its first public run. Lucknow Metro Rail service temporarily stopped near Alambagh station due to technical glitches, on its first public run.

On its debut commercial run, the Lucknow Metro developed a technical snag midway even as hundreds of passengers were stuck for over an hour, officials said. There was no air-conditioning or lights when the train stopped near Mavaiya. Excited about their first trip, passengers were stuck inside till a team of the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) came to their help. The passengers were taken out from the back through the emergency exit.

Speaking to PTI, an LMRC official said: “There was some fault in this traction and we are working on it. All trains are plying on the other parallel track.” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had jointly inaugurated the maiden run of the Lucknow Metro with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday. Governor Ram Naik was also present on the occasion. Also Read: Lucknow Metro breaks down on first run; Twitterati respond with unforgiving humour

The 8.5-km ‘priority corridor’ runs from Transport Nagar to Charbagh in the city. The Lucknow Metro is the pet project of former chief minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. The SP chief, however, took to Twitter to vent his angst following the technical snag.

लखनऊ मेट्रो तो पहले से ही बनकर तैयार थी, भारत सरकार ने CMRS के जरिए NOC देने में इतना लंबा वक़्त लिया, फिर भी पहले ही दिन मेट्रो ठप ! pic.twitter.com/zTclU6qdzm — Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 6, 2017

Meanwhile, police resorted to lathicharge on Samajwadi Party workers in Lucknow’s Transport Nagar shortly after the Lucknow Metro incident. SP workers claimed they were disallowed from boarding the metro. “We have valid metro cards but the police are not allowing us entry,” said an angry SP leader, who along with others were engaged in sloganeering outside the station.

Police had to resort to cane charge to disperse them. The station had to be closed for some time to prevent any untoward incident. The SP workers were later allowed to take the ride when they promised that they would remain disciplined.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, state Governor Ram Naik and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the Lucknow Metro inauguration. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastava) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, state Governor Ram Naik and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the Lucknow Metro inauguration. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastava)

Here are some key facts about the Lucknow Metro:

1. The metro will be operational from 6 am to 10 pm every day.

2. The corridor, which runs from airport till Munshi Pulia, is part of the 22.8-km-long North-South Corridor.

3. This corridor will have 21 stations, which will include eight elevated ones.

4. An East-West corridor will also come up. This corridor will run from Charbagh Railway station till Vasant Kunj, covering at least 11 km, with 6.3 km underground.

5. The work on the Lucknow Metro system was started in September 2014. Trial run on this section was first conducted on December 1, 2016.

6. E Sreedharan, popularly known as the ‘Metro-Man’, is the principal advisor of the Lucknow Metro.

7. The approximate cost of Phase-1A is around Rs 6,928 crore and its a joint venture between the State and Central governments.

8. For the North-South corridor, daily ridership is expected to be around 6.44 lakh by year 2020. For the East-West corridor, ridership is expected to touch at least 2.43 lakh.

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