Delhi Metro is one of the popular metros in the world occupying 13th position in terms of operating distance. It operates its services in Delhi, Nodia, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Its introduction has commenced the first public transportation in the country paving the way for several other metros. Delhi Metro has become the mascot of speed, safety and luxury for the people of Delhi. It has transformed the transportation system and modernized the complete area of Delhi from the historic era. The vast network of Delhi Metro covers a distance of 190 km and comprises of 142 station and 6 lanes. Out of these stations majority operate on the elevated position, 35 are underground and 5 are at-grade. The stations are provided with modern features like elevators, escalators and concrete tiles which facilitate easy movement for specially challenged people to and fro from the station.  The variants of rolling stock used are standard gauge and broad gauge. The types of rolling stocks used include CAF Beasain standard gauge, Mitsubishi Rotem broad gauge, Mitsubishi Rotem standard gauge and Bombardier Movia.

Operation

Delhi Metro was built and managed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC). It is a company owned by the state government with equal equity participation by the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Central Government. But, the administrative control of the organisation is vested with the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. Delhi Metro is not only involved in the organisation of Metro services in Delhi, but also undertakes project planning and functioning of monorail, metro rail and other high-speed rail projects in India. It also caters for consultancy services to other upcoming metro projects of various states in the country and abroad.

Facts

The statistics available with DMRC indicates that by the 2010 year end, Delhi Metro has already been operating 2,700 daily trips across the Delhi region from 6 am to 11 pm. There is a train operating at every 2 minutes 40 seconds between the stations during peak office hours. The train usually have four to six coaches, however with the increase in the number of commuters the DMRC have introduced eight-coach trains on the Yellow Line (starting from Jahangirpuri to HUDA city centre) and Blue line (starting from Dwarka Sector-21 and ending at Noida City Centre/Vaishali). Yellow line was the first line on which an eight coach train operated. The power requirement for operation of the metro is 25-KV, 50-Hz AC which is supplied through overhead catenary. The statistics indicate that on an average more than 2 million commuters travel using the Delhi Metro service. DMRC has received the certification as the first global Metro rail service to get "carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions" by the United Nations. This achievement of DMRC is expected to help in reduction of pollution level by more than 63 million tonnes every year.

The Delhi Metro planning commenced in the year 1984 with the Urban Arts Commission and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) deciding to develop a high class and comfortable transport system that would cater for the requirement of Delhi. The Delhi state government and the Central Government set up the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) under the Companies Act, 1956 on 3rd May 1995. Construction work for this ambitious project commenced in the year 1998. The first section of Metro service was started on the Red Line, in the year 2002. This was followed by the Yellow Line, Blue line and branch line in the year 2004, 2005 and 2009 respectively. The other lines like Green, Violet Lines and services to Airport (Delhi Airport Metro Express) commenced in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon is the new entrant in the Metro service. Even though it’s a separate metro service, it is linked to the Yellow Line of Delhi Metro. Commuters can travel on this metro system using the Delhi Metro tickets.