Delhi Metro by this year end will join the global elite club of top 10 urban metro rails which have a network of over 300 km, a senior Urban Development Ministry official today said.
"It started in 1995 and in these 21 years it has spanned 213 km. But, let me tell you, by end of this year, you (DMRC) will join the top 10 elite club in the world...Having over 300 km of network, like in Beijing, Shanghai and London," Additional Secretary, Urban Development Ministry D P Mishra said.
He said this during an event to mark the 22nd Foundation Day of DMRC at Metro Bhawan here.
"Besides, we have more than 300 km of metro network operational in seven cities, more than 600 km of it under construction, as in projects which have been already sanctioned, and we will cross the 1,000 km mark in the next 5 years. Also, another 500 km of it is under different stages of consideration of the government," Mishra said.
He also said the Centre was in the process of "standardisation, and creating such a system so that 'Make in India' can be promoted in various components of the DMRC, including its rolling stock".
DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh said it has been awarded work in the metro networks for Mumbai and Vijaywada cities.
The DMRC began its journey in the late 1990s and ever since it has connected Delhi with the National Capital Region, spanning 213 km across the region.
"Besides, building our own network in Delhi, we have been in demand for construction work or offering consultancies for metro networks coming up in other cities too.
"We will be implementing one line of the Mumbai Metro and also for the upcoming network in Vijaywada," he said.
A senior DMRC official said Delhi Metro has already "commissioned 9 km of work for the Jaipur Metro and it has begun work on the Kochi Metro too".
DMRC currently spans 160 stations in its over 210-km network and makes 3,000 trips per day carrying on an average 27-28 lakh commuters per day with "great efficiency" with "delay margin being set at 59 seconds vis-a-vis the international standard being 2 minutes".
Singh said all new stations of Delhi Metro are being built with green standards and that efforts are on to leverage solar power.
"We have already signed an MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India to develop an off-site 750 MW solar project in MP," he said.
Delhi Chief Secretary K K Sharma suggested holding a census to understand as to why "more people are not moving to using public transport over private cars."
"The idea of our policies must be to make the carwallahs move to buses and other urban transportation systems. We must try to find why they are not doing so," he said.
