Hyderabad: As a result of the rain and the consequent traffic jams in the IT corridors on Friday, about 2.89 lakh passengers ended up turning to the Metro Rail for respite. However, the passengers did not have it easy.
Trains suffered several delays during the peak hours at Hitec City station. One passenger said that his train halted for nearly 25 minutes after the Hitec City station as a result of which, the patrons in the tightly crowded coaches nearly suffocated to death.
While some passengers resorted to pressing the emergency button, the announcement against it kept playing on repeat.
When contacted, a Metro Rail official explained that passengers must speak into the mike (which has been provided with the emergency button) and explain their concern to controllers. “Simply pressing the button is not enough,” he said.
Passengers said the authorities need urgently to establish a more coordinated process of issuing tokens when catering to larger than usual crowds. “They should have halted the token sale for a while and allowed the crowd to disperse before resuming business,” a passenger suggested.
