By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which is rapidly becoming the lifeline of the national capital, Sunday completed 100 months of operations, an official said.
“The Delhi Metro today (Sunday) completed 100 months of operations. The journey, which began in December 2002 with only 8.5 kilometres and six Metro stations now covers 183 kilometres and has 135 stations,” DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said.
The mass rapid transit network began its operations Dec 24, 2002 when the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee flagged off the first train.
“As the Metro reached its centenary month, the ridership has increased from 82,179 in 2002 to over 14 lakh till March 2011. It has crossed the boundaries of the national capital. The DMRC now covers even the National Capital Region (NCR) Noida and Gurgaon,” Dayal said.
There are 160 Metro trains which make about 2,400 trips per day covering about 70,000 kilometres and carry about 1.5 million passengers on week days.
The DMRC is further expanding its’s network with Phase-III, which will add about 108 kilometres more.
The network is targetting to complete 295 kilometres by 2015, making it one of the fastest expanding Metro networks in the world.