Sreedharan to lead a new panel dedicated to frame metro rail norms

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his nod to a new committee all set to be formed soon, to be spearheaded by ‘metro man of India’ E. Sreedharan - a retired Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer, who has served as the managing director of Delhi Metro from 1995 to 2012. The core agenda of the committee will be to lay down the standards for metro rail systems across the country.

Narendra Modi at the time of inaugurating the new initiative via video-conferencing said that commuters should opt for metro rail services and avoid private vehicles. He further added, “Our priority is to build urban transport systems that are convenient, comfortable and affordable in our cities.”

This announcement was made in next to no time immediately within few hours after the inauguration of the Delhi Metro Green Line. The Mundka-Bahadurgarh section is part of a series of phase-III launches. It is anticipated that this new segment will add about 170km more to the capital’s metro network this year. There are seven stations altogether in the 11.2-km fully-elevated Bahadurgarh corridor.

After Gurugram and Faridabad, Bahadurgarh would be Delhi Metro’s third foray into Haryana. There are several educational centres in Bahadurgarh. The Metro will bring convenience to this part. It was observed that last year there was a major drop in ridership owing to the hike in fares. This has been a chief ground of concern for the Delhi Metro.

As per a report by LiveMint, Narendra Modi said that the government wanted to boost ‘Make in India’ by making metro coaches in the country. The process of making metro systems is linked to cooperative federalism.

The Prime Minister also highlighted that India is now helping several other nations who had initially helped her in the making of Delhi Metro and other metros by designing coaches for their metro systems.