India is likely to overtake the United States of America in terms of metro rail network length in the next two years, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal said on Saturday after inaugurating the extended route of the metro rail service in Indore.
“The US has a metro rail network of 1,386 km. With the extended Indore line, India’s metro rail network has reached 1,170 km,” he said noting the country’s network length was now just 216 kilometres less than the US. Speaking after inaugurating the extended Indore metro rail service, built at a cost of Rs 2,850 crore, he said China currently has around 8,000 km of metro rail lines.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, metro rail services were operational on 245 km route across five cities, which has now expanded to 1,170 km across 26 cities, Lal pointed out.
“I think in the next two years, we will overtake the US and become the world’s second-largest country in terms of metro rail network after China,” the Union minister said in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. Speaking on the occasion, CM Yadav said the metro rail service was writing a new chapter in Indore’s development and that it would eventually be extended to Ujjain and other nearby areas.
