CHENNAI: Passengers at Teynampet Metro station were in a state of shock after a warning message requested passengers to leave the station due to safety reasons on Thursday evening. The message on display read: “Please leave the station immediately. We are closing the station for safety reasons”.
Speaking to DT Next, M Harish, a passenger who arrived at Teynampet Metro station to board the train at 6:20 pm on Thursday said, “Exactly two minutes after I reached the station, the message started displaying on a digital board both in English and Tamil. The public at the station panicked and began walking out of the station.”
“However, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) staff present there pacified the public and requested us to board the train,” added Harish.
When DT Next contacted CMRL regarding the warning message, they said, “The message was displayed after a fire alarm made a signal at the station. But, later it was found as a false alarm. Passengers were directed not to panic and board the trains as usual.”
Trains run late; CMRL blames it on ‘signalling issues’
Passengers on Thursday morning complained about Metro trains running slow across many stations in the city.
“The Metro train at Alandur station was running slow during the peak hours in the morning. Also, the train stopped in-between, making passengers restless as we were getting late to work,” said Sharath Kumar, a passenger.
Sharath further added that due to the glitch, repeated announcements were being made by the CMRL through the intercoms inside the train.
“Signalling problems during peak hours can be irritating. Many of us will have to face pay cuts if reported late to work, Also, a fellow passenger shared that he faced the same issue in July as well,” rued Sharath.
Commenting about this, CMRL sources added, “Due to a certain issue, the Metro train stopped at LIC for over an hour at 7:04 am on Thursday. Due to this, there was a delay in other trains as well, as trains were running only on a single line.”
Meanwhile, sources pointed out that on June 22 also, trains from Washermanpet Metro station to Central Metro were running late due to signalling issues.
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