Ahead of CWG, fire alarm has Birmingham travellers on tenterhooks

The Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games is still two days away, but the Games got a ‘scary start’ after a fire alarm forced has kept travellers at the Birmingham New Street on their toes for more than 30 minutes.

The alarm was later discovered as a ‘false one’, but only after harried passengers were evacuated.

A little after this reporter arrived in Birmingham from London, passengers, who had just gotten off or were waiting to board trains, were suddenly asked to evacuate and leave the station.

There was sudden panic as people rushed out and collected just outside the station, decked up for the Commonwealth Games scheduled to start Thursday.

As an additional precaution, many train lines were stopped just outside the main station.

A clutch of reporters, who were arriving at Birmingham for the Games, said they had to stay inside their trains for more than 40 minutes despite being fewer than a minute from the platform they were to get off.

Station officials made announcements and train operators took to Twitter to alert passengers.

About 30 minutes later, a police officer said it was a fire alarm as someone seemed to have damaged a fire alarm and it could not be set right for a while, and hence the situation.

Not wanting to take a chance, officials did not allow people to move. Later it was announced that the incident was a false alarm and that the station would reopen soon and it did.

The Network also tweeted, “A false fire alarm has temporarily caused the evacuation of the station”.

The service provider apologised for the inconvenience and added: “A full safety check is being completed and the station will reopen shortly. There may be short-term disruption as a result.”

Meanwhile, many passengers took to Twitter to voice concerns and complaints. Shortly after 1 pm, the station reopened and trains resumed their respective trips.

Three weeks ago, and one of the entrances (Union Street entrance) to the Glasgow Central Station was closed though there was no disruption to train services.

Security has been tightened in Birmingham ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

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