Delhi Metro – The new face of Delhi

The Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system in the Indian Capital of New Delhi that was built and is operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited commonly known as DMRC. To solve the big transportaion problem in Delhi, the Government of India and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, in equal partnership have set up a company named Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. under the Companies Act,1956. The first section of the Delhi Metro was opened on December 24, 2002.

Delhi Metro became the second underground rapid transit system in India, after Kolkata. The Delhi Metro has a combination of elevated, at-grade and underground lines. The Delhi Metro has won numerous awards for its environmentally friendly practices from many renowned organisations including the United Nations, RINA, and ISO. Dr. E. Sreedharan, the Managing Director of the Metro during the Phase I construction, was declared “Indian of the Year for 2007″ by CNN-IBN news channel. Delhi Metro was the first metro in the world to be ISO 14001 certified for environmentally friendly construction.

The concept of a metro for Delhi was first formalized in the Delhi Master Plan of 1960. Actual work towards building the metro, however, only started in March 5, 1995, when the DMRC was established. After the previous problems experienced by the Calcutta Metro, which was badly delayed and 12 times over budget due to “political meddling, technical problems and bureaucratic delays”, the DMRC was given full powers to hire people, decide on tenders and control funds.

Physical construction work started on October 1, 1998. Aside from one major disagreement in 2000, where the Ministry of Railways forced the system to use broad gauge despite the DMRC’s preference for standard gauge, construction proceeded smoothly. The first line opened on December 24, 2002 and the entire Phase I of the project was completed in December 2005, on budget and almost three years ahead of schedule, an achievement described as “nothing short of a miracle” by BusinessWeek.

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