{"id":3989,"date":"2007-03-09T13:59:36","date_gmt":"2007-03-09T13:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2007\/03\/miracle-delhi-metro-and-man-behind-it\/"},"modified":"2007-03-09T13:59:36","modified_gmt":"2007-03-09T13:59:36","slug":"miracle-delhi-metro-and-man-behind-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2007\/03\/miracle-delhi-metro-and-man-behind-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Miracle of Delhi Metro and the Man behind it!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Nice article on the Delhi Metro! That such a thing was constructed in Delhi is a miracle in itself\u2026 that it is so nice is just astonishing! India needs more uncompromising folks like Sreedharan!<\/p>\n

\n

That\u2019s why, when you talk to anyone trying to build a road or a bridge or power plant in India, the Delhi Metro comes up in conversation. \"When I arrived on the project, there wasn\u2019t a lot of optimism about India,\" says John Triplett, head of India operations for Parsons Brinkerhoff, the U.S. firm that was program manager for the metro. \"Now projects are succeeding and there\u2019s a lot more optimism. India can do it.\" Behind the success of the Delhi Metro stands a 50-year veteran of the railways, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan.<\/p>\n

UNCOMMON BUREAUCRAT<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1990s, Sreedharan built the 470-mile Konkan Railway on India\u2019s western coast, the first major railway project since the British left India in 1947. Sreedharan, now 74, is an aberration among Indian bureaucrats: He enjoys breaking rules to get things done. When he set out to build an information technology park outside Delhi, the requisite permissions were slow in coming. Sreedharan simply went ahead. Completed in 2005, the IT park now is thriving and houses several high-profile Indian companies, including Genpact.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s fast. \"We finalize deals in 24 hours,\" he says. He also boasts that on the metro project the average duration of major tenders was 19 days, compared with the three to nine months that is the norm. Sreedharan did three things to get the project done. First, with infrastructure projects languishing all over India for lack of funds, he went overseas, tapping the Japan Bank of International Cooperation for loans to cover 60% of the cost. By comparison, it took the city of Kolkata 22 years to build its own metro because of a paucity of funds.<\/p>\n

Second, Sreedharan scoured the world for top companies with extensive experience in the field. Pacific Consultants International from Japan advised on the engineering matters, Korea\u2019s Rotem and Japan\u2019s Mitsubishi supplied the initial shipment of coaches, while France\u2019s Alstom led the consortium responsible for the design of the automatic train control system.<\/p>\n

TRAFFIC AND POLLUTION SOLUTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most importantly, Sreedharan got the various Indian government agencies to work together. Initially there was a disagreement between the Delhi Metro Corp. and its partner, Indian Railways, about what kind of tracks to use. But after intense discussion, the contractors came up with a plan to assemble the metro carriages in Bangalore and roll them on Indian Railways track straight to the New Delhi metro.<\/p>\n

The system is already helping to take the edge off Delhi\u2019s mammoth traffic and pollution problems. An average of 500,000 commuters travel underground daily instead of driving their own cars and scooters or packing into buses. As a result, authorities say, pollution levels in Delhi are down by a third, and they see no need to add to the city\u2019s fleet of 7,500 buses. Congestion has eased to where those buses now travel an average of 11 mph. That\u2019s up from around 8 mph before the metro was built\u2014a serious achievement in a city with world-class traffic jams.<\/p>\n

Story Link<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Powered by<\/em> Qumana<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nice article on the Delhi Metro! That such a thing was constructed in Delhi is a miracle in itself… that it is so nice is just astonishing! India needs more uncompromising folks like Sreedharan!<\/p>\n

\n

That’s why, when you talk to anyone trying to build a road or a bridge or power plant in India, the Delhi Metro comes up in conversation. "When I arrived on the project, there wasn’t a lot of optimism about India," says John Triplett, head of India operations for Parsons Brinkerhoff, the U.S. firm that was program manager for the metro. "Now projects are succeeding and there’s a lot more optimism. India can do it." Behind the success of the Delhi Metro stands a 50-year veteran of the railways, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan.<\/p>\n

UNCOMMON BUREAUCRAT<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1990s, Sreedharan built the 470-mile Konkan Railway on India’s western coast, the first major railway project since the British left India in 1947. Sreedharan, now 74, is an aberration among Indian bureaucrats: He enjoys breaking rules to get things done. When he set out to build an information technology park outside Delhi, the requisite permissions were slow in coming. Sreedharan simply went ahead. Completed in 2005, the IT park now is thriving and houses several high-profile Indian companies, including Genpact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1517,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india"],"yoast_head":"\nMiracle of Delhi Metro and the Man behind it!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nice article on the Delhi Metro! That such a thing was constructed in Delhi is a miracle in itself... that it is so nice is just astonishing! India needs more uncompromising folks like Sreedharan! That's why, when you talk to anyone trying to build a road or a bridge or power plant in India, the Delhi Metro comes up in conversation. "When I arrived on the project, there wasn't a lot of optimism about India," says John Triplett, head of India operations for Parsons Brinkerhoff, the U.S. firm that was program manager for the metro. "Now projects are succeeding and there's a lot more optimism. India can do it." Behind the success of the Delhi Metro stands a 50-year veteran of the railways, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan.UNCOMMON BUREAUCRAT In the 1990s, Sreedharan built the 470-mile Konkan Railway on India's western coast, the first major railway project since the British left India in 1947. Sreedharan, now 74, is an aberration among Indian bureaucrats: He enjoys breaking rules to get things done. 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That's why, when you talk to anyone trying to build a road or a bridge or power plant in India, the Delhi Metro comes up in conversation. "When I arrived on the project, there wasn't a lot of optimism about India," says John Triplett, head of India operations for Parsons Brinkerhoff, the U.S. firm that was program manager for the metro. "Now projects are succeeding and there's a lot more optimism. India can do it." Behind the success of the Delhi Metro stands a 50-year veteran of the railways, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan.UNCOMMON BUREAUCRAT In the 1990s, Sreedharan built the 470-mile Konkan Railway on India's western coast, the first major railway project since the British left India in 1947. Sreedharan, now 74, is an aberration among Indian bureaucrats: He enjoys breaking rules to get things done. When he set out to build an information technology park outside Delhi, the requisite permissions were slow in coming. Sreedharan simply went ahead. 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