When the Lucknow Metro ran in fits & starts

LUCKNOW: Metro trains faced 17 hiccups in 45 days since the much-awaited rapid transit system was launched in the city on March 9.
While negligence on part of drivers halted the trains two times, mischief-mongers pressed the emergency button on eight occasions. Signal failure hit trains twice and on five occasions, the rakes remained stuck on tracks when gates did not open.
On April 28, a train with passengers on board was stuck inside a tunnel near Husainganj underground station for an hour. All four compartments were inspected and it was found that the limit switch, which regulates speed, had tripped because the driver was going too fast. "The vibration caused by overspeeding tripped the switch. It is an inbuilt safety system," said a senior officer.
In another incident on March 17, a train stopped between Badshahnagar and Lekhraj. Under safety guidelines, the distance between two trains moving in the same direction should be around 2km. On that occasion, one train had violated this territorial limit. The station controller at Lekhraj alerted the train operator who had to stop for 10 minutes.
On March 26, station controller at Indiranagar showed the green light to a train even as the preceding one was less than 2km ahead. This time, the driver detected the problem on seeing the display board and stopped the train for five minutes. A similar incident took place a few days ago when a train was given go-ahead at KD Singh Babu Stadium while another was still at Lucknow University station.
Officials said the emergency button had been provided to aid passengers if there's trouble on the tracks, but some people were callous enough to play pranks. The problem of gates not opening was a technical glitch, they added.
Director (operations) at LMRC Mahendra Singh said, "These glitches are not unexpected, as our operating team is new to the technologies involved. We summoned engineers from Alstom (a rail transport MNC) and they have inspected everything to ensure people enjoy a hitch-free ride in the future."