‘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 the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation during which he constructed and spread the network far and wide across the National Capital Region.
Seventynine-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 Mangu Singh has worked closely with him during the construction of the Delhi Metro network.
The ‘Metro Man', who joined the Indian Railways in 1953, flew in from Chennai on Saturday evening and formally handed over the charge to Mr. Singh, 56, who oversaw the high-speed Airport Metro Express Corridor, at a brief ceremony at ‘Metro Bhawan'.
Mr. Sreedharan, credited with restoring the Pamban Bridge in Rameshwaram which was washed away in the 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 with the Delhi Metro.
The much talked about technocrat not only built the Metro network in Delhi but was instrumental in expanding the network across the National Capital Region with satellite cities like Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon getting the modern transport system.
Before schedule
From 8 km in 2002, the Delhi Metro now has a network of 190 km and carries two million passengers every day. During his 16-year tenure Mr. Sreedharan also brought in a system at the organisation which is known for completing its project well before schedule.
His successor Mangu Singh is an Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE) officer of the 1981 batch who worked with Mr. Sreedharan on the Kolkata Metro project. He has been associated with the Delhi Metro since its inception.
Mr. Singh, who oversaw the high-speed Airport Express Line, is Mr. Sreedharan's choice as the ‘Metro Man' wanted an engineer of repute to take charge.
He is also in charge of 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 the Delhi Metro for planning metro systems in cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kochi.
