{"id":615185,"date":"2026-09-05T09:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T09:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/615185\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T09:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T09:54:15","slug":"delhis-world-class-metro-was-built-for-a-bargain-ireland-take-note-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/615185\/","title":{"rendered":"Delhi\u2019s world-class metro was built for a bargain. Ireland take note \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the early 2000s, the need for public transit in India\u2019s<\/a> cities was becoming dire. The capital, New Delhi, already huge and sprawling, was choked with traffic congestion and air pollution. But when the Delhi Metro opened in 2002, there were few successful examples of public transit systems in countries at India\u2019s level of development.<\/p>\n

Today, the Delhi Metro is a global model. In March, the completion of a new line extended the length of Delhi\u2019s subway system to 370km, for a total cost of roughly \u20ac9 billion. (Estimates for Dublin<\/a>\u2019s planned 18km MetroLink<\/a>, connecting Dublin Airport and the city centre, vary from between \u20ac9.5 to \u20ac23 billion).<\/p>\n

When the Delhi Metro opened, it represented a new dawn of modernity in a country where infrastructure projects were plagued with delays and corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt proved that a complex urban rail project in a low- and middle-income country can be delivered and operated to very high standards,\u201d said Gerald Ollivier, the World Bank<\/a>\u2019s lead transport specialist for India.<\/p>\n

The Delhi Metro is the world\u2019s first railway project to be awarded carbon credits by the United Nations. The system is 33 per cent solar-powered, and its train cars capture brake energy in batteries. Last year, the trains ran 99.9 per cent on time.<\/p>\n

\"PassengersPassengers navigate fare gates at a subway station entrance in New Delhi. Photograph: Karan Deep Singh\/The New York Times
\n \"FloorFloor stickers guide passengers in the New Delhi metro system. Photograph: Karan Deep Singh\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

But the Delhi Metro did not start off as a runaway success.<\/p>\n

Initially, transportation experts were sceptical of rail-based mass transit in India. In Kolkata, the country\u2019s first metro project was mired in costly delays and low passenger use since opening in 1984.<\/p>\n

Delhi is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The subway had to snake through packed residential areas, busy markets, slums and some of India\u2019s most iconic and ancient monuments.<\/p>\n

Unlike London, New York and Tokyo, where subways have developed alongside city infrastructure for a century or more, the Delhi Metro was constructed from scratch in a bustling city.<\/p>\n

Thousands lost homes and settlements during construction, especially lower-income and historically marginalised residents. The metro was required under law to provide compensation and alternative housing to those affected.<\/p>\n

In October 2008, with parts of the system still under construction, a malfunctioning crane contributed to the collapse of a bridge portion in east Delhi, killing two people and wounding 17 others. The following July, another bridge under construction collapsed in south Delhi, killing five people and injuring 15 others.<\/p>\n

The managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) at the time, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, took responsibility for the accidents and sent his resignation letter to Sheila Dikshit, then the chief minister of Delhi. She refused to accept it.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn engineer monitors data for the metro system in New Delhi. Photograph: Karan Deep Singh\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Sreedharan, called the \u201cMetro Man of India\u201d, had earned a reputation for being a fearless leader with zero tolerance for corruption or political interference. He instilled a culture of professionalism, punctuality and discipline at the company, which is jointly owned by the Delhi government and India\u2019s federal government.<\/p>\n

Instead of hiring foreign consultants, he sent his deputies to study the best subway systems in the world and to bring the knowledge back to India. He hired contractors with experience with government agencies in relocating infrastructure. By the time he retired in 2011, the system had come to be widely perceived as a success.<\/p>\n

Success depended both on timely delivery of the system and widespread use by locals. When the Delhi Metro opened in 2002, the whole experience of subways was new for many residents.<\/p>\n

The metro hired drama troupes to organise street plays explaining the basics of the metro system. Commuters needed to acclimatise to new concepts like navigating escalators and elevators, passing through automated turnstiles and paying for a fare for each ride.<\/p>\n

In the early years, commuters hoarded tokens, so the DMRC introduced souvenirs to manage pilferage. Then came paper tickets, preloaded smart cards and eventually digital fares.<\/p>\n

\"TriptiTripti Jain rides on the New Delhi metro system. Photograph: Karan Deep Singh\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

For years, the metro operated without basic public amenities. Even toilets were tucked away outside stations.<\/p>\n

Now, stations host not only toilets, but also restaurants, police booths and kiosks selling clothes. Glow signs and colour-coded stickers on station floors guide commuters to different lines and landmarks.<\/p>\n

The early onboarding of passengers translated into record adoption, and continued investment in new lines has sustained passenger numbers.<\/p>\n

Experience <\/p>\n

In a sweltering, chaotic city, passenger comfort and safety go hand in hand. The Delhi Metro has been a game changer for working women, who rely on its safety and predictability to go to work in and around the city, studies show.<\/p>\n

\"PedestriansPedestrians dodge traffic at an intersection in New Delhi. Photograph: Karan Deep Singh\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to imagine life as a woman in Delhi without the metro,\u201d Tripti Jain, a 23-year-old toy designer, said. \u201cIt\u2019s convenient, air-conditioned and I know a specific time that I will reach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaches are fitted with security cameras. Marshals prevent men from entering coaches reserved for women.<\/p>\n

Though heavily subsidised, the metro remains too expensive for some residents. \u201cThe metro is the most efficient and easy way of travelling, but I would like it to be more cost-efficient,\u201d said Janvi Jhamb, a 22-year-old student at the University of Delhi. August 2025 brought the first fare hike in eight years, with increases ranging from 1 to 5 rupees (roughly one cent to five cent) to cover maintenance and infrastructure costs.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? <\/p>\n

Public transport in Delhi otherwise continues to lag. Experts describe a lack of planning and communication between the metro and agencies that run bus systems and build the city\u2019s roads.<\/p>\n

The DMRC knows \u201chow to construct the system and run it very well, but their whole thinking is that buses are competing with them,\u201d said Geetam Tiwari, an emeritus professor of transportation at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.<\/p>\n

To serve residents who can\u2019t afford the metro or travel to areas outside its reach, experts say, Delhi must make its bus system more efficient and integrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to expand our metro network, but along the way we forgot about our bus-based system,\u201d said Deepty Jain, an assistant professor of transportation at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just cannot rely on one. One is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the metro has set a high bar of efficiency and professionalism for future public transit projects to clear, Jain said.<\/p>\n

Compared with other subway systems, \u201cwe are still young in terms of time,\u201d said Anuj Dayal, the principal executive director and chief of communications at DMRC. \u201cIn every other way, we are in the big league.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By the early 2000s, the need for public transit in India\u2019s cities was becoming dire. The capital, New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,2568,60,43],"class_list":["post-615185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-india","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}