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Elattuvalapil Sreedharan
Getting New Delhi on track
The first day of operation for the New Delhi Metro last December was chaotic: more than 1 million people showed up to ride the South Korean-made trains, and they urinated on platforms, pushed emergency-stop buttons for a lark and filched 30,000 train tokens. Afterward, the Metro authorities ran local-radio ads laying out the rules. "No drunkenness," they intoned, "no abusive language, no milk cans and pets allowed. No tampering with switches and gadgets."
Discipline has been restored, which is hardly surprising considering the man who built the Delhi Metro: Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, a decidedly grownup railroad engineer, who was set to retire before being chosen to head the $2 billion project in 1997. Sreedharan insisted on creating the Metro his own way. He assembled a motivated team of professionals—bypassing India's notorious bureaucracy—and visited subway systems around the world for tips. And he completed the first line well within budget—unusual in Indian infrastructure projects—largely by cracking down on kickbacks. "The contractors are grateful not to have to give bribes to get a project," says Sreedharan, sitting rigidly in his New Delhi office.
That achievement has spread pride—and hope. "If they can do more things like this," says Kunti Sharma, a housewife and frequent Metro passenger, "New Delhi will compare to any other capital in the modern world." Sreedharan has consulted with Hyderabad and Bombay about possible metros. Meanwhile, the 70-year-old plans to stay in New Delhi until the Metro is complete in 2007. "I have laid the road map," he says. And given India one of its smoothest rides in memory.
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