New Delhi: 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan on Saturday handed over the baton to his colleague Mangu Singh after a
momentous 16-year tenure as Managing Director of Delhi Metro
during which he constructed and spread the network far and
wide across the National Capital Region.
79-year-old Sreedharan, architect of the Konkan Railway
project who joined the Delhi Metro in 1995, retired after 16
years of service in the Delhi Metro. His successor Singh has
worked closely with him during the construction of the Metro
network in the capital.
The 'Metro Man', who joined the Indian Railways in 1953,
flew in from Chennai this evening and formally handed over the
charge to Singh, 56, who oversaw the high-speed Airport Metro
Express Corridor, at a brief ceremony at the 'Metro Bhawan'.
Sreedharan, credited with restoring the Pamban Bridge in
Rameshwaram washed away in 1963 floods in Tamil Nadu in just
46 days, retired after having worked in government service for
over 58 years of which 16 years he spent in Delhi Metro.
The technocrat not only built the Metro network in Delhi
but was instrumental in expanding the network across the NCR
with satellite cities like Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon
getting the modern transport system.
From 8 km in 2002, Delhi Metro now has a network of 190 km
and carries two million passengers every day. During his
16-year tenure, Sreedharan also brought in a system at the
organisation which is known for completing its project well
before schedule.
His successor Singh is an Indian Railways Service of
Engineers (IRSE) officer of the 1981 batch and worked with
Sreedharan in the Kolkata Metro project. He has been
associated with the Delhi Metro since its inception.
Singh, who oversaw the high-speed Airport Express Line,
is Sreedharan's choice as the 'Metro Man' wanted an engineer
of repute to take charge.
Singh is an Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE)
officer of the 1981 batch. He is also in-charge of the Delhi
Metro's Phase-III that envisages bringing another 103 km of
the capital under the Metro network.
The engineer is also in-charge for consultancy works
undertaken by Delhi Metro for planning Metro systems in cities
like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Kochi.
Under Sreedharan's leadership, the Delhi Metro grew leaps
and bounds since it began operations in 2002 with its network
now spreading across the National Capital Region.
After its launch in 2002, Delhi Metro slowly added
several corridors to its network over the years thus bringing
satellite cities of Noida, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad closer to the
national capital.
The first ever Metro service was started on December 24,
2002 between Shahdara and Tis Hazari and the ridership has
increased leaps and bounds over the nine years to reach 20
lakh passengers a day.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, December 31, 2011, 08:15