Dr. E. Sreedharan, Metroman & 1st Managing Director, DMRC

Born in a remote village in Palghat (Palakkad) district of Kerala on 12th June, 1932; Dr. Elattuvalapil Sreedharan received his early education in his native place and later graduated from the Government Engineering College, Kakinada, in April 1953. After a small stint as Lecturer in Civil Engineering in Kerala Polytechnic, Calicut, he joined the Bombay Port Trust as an Apprentice Engineer for a year, when he was selected for the Indian Railway Service (IRS) of Engineers and joined Southern Railway as a Probationary Assistant Engineer in December 1954.

He held a number of assignments as Assistant Engineer, Executive Engineer, Divisional Engineer and Deputy Chief Engineer on the Southern and South Eastern Railways, when he was in-charge of new line constructions such as Quilon – Ernakulam metre gauge line, Mangalore-Hassan railway line, a number of doubling projects, bridge & tunnel projects and also maintenance of permanent ways in Palghat, Hubli and Bezawada Divisions. During this period, he was given the Railway Minister's Award for restoring the Pamban Railway Bridge in 46 days, 125 spans of which were washed away in a tidal wave in December 1963. As Deputy Chief Engineer, he was in-charge of investigation, planning and design of the first ever Metro in the country, viz. at Calcutta, from 1970 to 1975.

From October 1979 to November 1980, he was on deputation to the Ministry of Shipping & Transport as Chairman & Managing Director of the country's premier Shipyard at Cochin. During this tenure, the first ship built by this Shipyard, RANI PADMINI, was launched.

He was promoted as General Manager, Western Railway in July 1987, and in July 1989 elevated to the post of Member Engineering, Railway Board & ex-officio Secretary to the Government of India. On retirement in June 1990, he was put in charge of the prestigious Konkan Railway as its Chairman & Managing Director. On completion of the Konkan Railway Project, he joined the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation on 5th November 1997 as its first Managing Director.

Dr. Sreedharan is credited for changing the face of Indian public transport by his tireless work in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. It is only because of his sheer hard work and dedication that he was awarded the 'Padma Shree' by the Government of India in 2001, the 'Man of the Year Award' by The Times of India in 2002 and was named as one of 'Asia's Heroes' by TIME in 2003. Besides, the Government of France honored him with the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 2005.

Before stepping down as the 1st Managing Director of DMRC on 31st December, 2011, Dr. E. Sreedharan handed over the reins of the Delhi Metro to his worthy successor Dr. Mangu Singh to take Delhi Metro to greater heights in Phase III. Currently, he is associated with a number of metro projects in the country in an advisory capacity.