New Delhi:
E Sreedharan on Saturday handed over the baton to his colleague Mangu Singh after a momentous 16-year tenure as Managing Director of Delhi Metro during which he constructed and spread the network far and wide across the National Capital Region.
Seventy nine-year-old Sreedharan, architect of the Konkan Railway project, joined the Delhi Metro in 1995. His successor has worked closely with him during the construction of the Metro network in the capital.
The 'Metro Man', who joined the Indian Railways in 1953, flew in from Chennai this evening and formally handed over the charge to Singh, 56, who oversaw the high-speed Airport Metro Express Corridor, at a brief ceremony at the 'Metro Bhawan'.
Mr Sreedharan, credited with restoring the Pamban Bridge in Rameshwaram washed away in 1963 floods in Tamil Nadu in just 46 days, retired after having worked in government service for over 58 years.
The technocrat not only built the Metro network in Delhi but was instrumental in expanding the network across the NCR with satellite cities like Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon getting the modern transport system.
From 8 km in 2002, Delhi Metro now has a network of 190 km and carries two million passengers every day. During his 16-year tenure, 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 and worked with Sreedharan in the Kolkata Metro project. He has been associated with the Delhi Metro since its inception.