Commuters using the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) at the Indira Nagar railway station had a miraculous escape after a huge aluminium frame fitted with glass came crashing down on Wednesday. The incident, coming in the wake of the fall of a youth into an abandoned lift at Thirumailai railway station on July 29, brings to focus the poor maintenance and the slackness in ensuring commuter safety at many of the MRTS stations.
According to those present at the railway station, the aluminium frame measuring over 10 feet in length suddenly tumbled from a height of more than 15 feet leaving the sprawling ground floor of the railway station filled with shards of glass. The workers at the railway station also remembered the crashing of a similar aluminium frame located on the eastern side of the entrance during the heavy rains in December last year.
Sumathi Ananth Shreyas, a journalism student, in a Facebook post claimed to have escaped the crash by a fraction of a second. T. Gopal, a regular MRTS user from Thiruvanmiyur, said severe casualties were averted because the incident happened around 1 p.m. and in Indira Nagar railway station, which has relatively fewer footfalls.
A senior official of the Southern Railway said the matter is being examined by the maintenance officials and further action would be taken based on the feedback from the officials.
