Metro rail network likely to cross 700 kms in a few years: Housing minister

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the metro rail network in the county was expected to cross 700 kms in the next few years. Addressing an event in New Delhi, the housing and urban affairs minister said from just eight kms in 2002, as many as 425 kms of metro lines are operational as of now, in 10 different cities across the country. He also called for the need to devise technologies that would help in constructing and operating metro systems in a sustainable manner in the country. “With many cities planning for metro rails in next few years, the network length of the metro in India is expected to cross 700 kms,” said an official release, quoting the minister. In addition to this, regional rail transit systems are also being planned to unclog the cities, the minister said. He said the Delhi Metro, with an operational network of 231 kms, was carrying three million people every day and expressed confidence that within a year, the network length in the National Capital Region would cross the 350 kms.