A NAME that is synonymous with the success of Delhi Metro, E Sreedharan, retires today after a successful 16-year tenure, as a reputed civil engineer Mangu Singh steps into his shoe. The legendary ‘Keralite’ will spend his post-retirement in his native village in Thrissur, Kerala with the prayers and praises of commuters who use the metro services day in and day out across the Delhi and NCR.

He joined DMRC in 1995, when people had only watched the metro trains in the movies and TV programmes. But his efforts, technical expertise and hard work paid the dividends and he managed to revolutionise the transport sector in the capital region through high-speed and regular metro services.

Though he attributed his successful career to the ‘different work culture’ and ‘fast decision making process’ in Delhi metro, as quoted by NDTV but it was through his sincere and committed work that Metro organisation has made a name by completing its projects well before the schedule.

Sreedharan over the saw of operations of the metro since its inception in 2002 and now it has crossed the Delhi borders into Noida and Gurgaon. On December 24, 2002, the first metro service started on an eight kilometre stretch between Shahdara and Tis Hazari and since new lines have been added and the number of passengers has increased to a staggering 20 lakh.

After graduating as an engineer from the Government Engineering College, Kakinada, Sreedharan worked as a lecturer at the Government CollegeKozhikode and a year at the Bombay Port Trust as an apprentice.

But success is something that has always come his way and that is why in 1963, he was bestowed with the Railway Minister’s award after he restored the Pamban Bridge in Tamil Nadu, washed away by cyclone, in just 46 days after his boss had given a three-month deadline. He has retired from Indian Railways as Member Engineering amnd in 1970, as the deputy chief engineer, he was put in charge for planning, designing and implementation of Calcutta metro, the country’s first metro service.