Know all about South Asia's first Metro Museum opened for public in New Delhi

Inspired by Transport Museum in London, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) has set up South Asia's first "Metro Museum" in New Delhi to display a collection of panels, achievements, useful informations, historic photographs and assorted exhibits at the Patel Chowk Metro station premises.

The metro museum helps visitors to explore the facts about the first modern rail-based public transport facility of India. Delhi Metro Museum was opened on 31st December 2008 for the people.

At the entrance of the museum, there is a little girl (Delhi Metro Mascot) wearing a uniform standing with folded hands greeting, Namaste. Museum consists of handcrafted models of the metro train that are kept enclosed in a glass tube. It is made with so much precision that if you peep in from the windows, you’ll find seats carved with utmost accuracy. There is also a tunnel-boring machine model which is used to dig underground tunnels to lay the metro tracks along with audio recordings for people who are interested to know about it in detail.

A consolidated illuminated metro map indicating all the metro lines and awards bagged by the metro for its cutting edge technology, designing, environmentally friendly has also been displayed at the museum. It also has a rich collection of rare photographs of celebrities and people who have travelled through the Delhi metro such as Sheila Dikshit, Viswanathan Anand, Cabinet ministers, PM Narendra Modi and various foreign dignitaries as well.

To add a cherry on the cake, there are two touchscreens on which DMRC corporate movie, short clips are played which tells us vividly about the construction of metro tunnels and its infrastructure. The museum also has a souvenir shop from where one can buy key chains, neckties, badges, pens, tie pins, books and even metro models in different sizes.

Dr. Elattuvalapil Sreedharan also known as the “Metro Man” is behind the implementation of Delhi Metro Rail project. He is an Indian civil engineer and a retired Indian Engineering Service(IES), officer known for changing the face of Indian public transport. E. Sreedharan is well known for his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro while he was serving as the managing director of Delhi Metro from 1995 to 2012.

Sreedharan has not only worked on the Delhi metro project but also the designing, planning and executing of the metro project of Kolkata is done by him. He played an integral part of the Kolkata metro, which is the first Indian city to have a metro network. Some of the major metro rail projects like Konkan, Delhi, Kochi, Lucknow and Jaipur metro would have been incomplete without his contribution. All the projects on which he worked were either completed on time or before.

The Museum opened 6 days in week in between 6.00 AM and 11.00 PM and it closed on Monday. One can easily reach through any means of transport to get answers for their curiosity. Curator services at the museum can be availed of from 10.00 AM to 4.00 PM (Except Monday).

Key Information

• Museum Name: Delhi Metro Museum
• Opened to the public since: 31st December 2008
• Managed by: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd
• Location: Patel Chowk Metro Station (Yellow Line), New Delhi - 110001
• Days & Timings: Tuesday to Sunday between 06.00 AM to 11.00 PM
• Closed on: Every Monday
• Ticket: No seprate ticket required to visit the Metro Museum. Visitor need to get access through metro tokens and smart cards in the Patel Chowk Metro Station premises.
• Telephone: 011-23345851
• Website: https://museum.delhimetrorail.com
• Nearby Locations: Jantar Mantar (600 metres), Art Gallery (1 km), Gurudwara Bangla Sahib (1 km), India Gate (1 km), Janpath Market (1 km), Parliament House (500 metres), Amrit Udyan (Mughal Garden), Rashtrapati Bhawan, Kartavya Path (Rajpath) etc.

Key Attractions

• Model of the Delhi Metro Trains
• Model of Tunnel Boring Machines
• Souvenir Shop
• Glimpses of Key Events
• Samples of Soils and Stones found during the excution of tunnels
• Uniforms of Metro Personnel
• Corporate Films on Journey of Delhi Metro
• Delhi Metro Route Maps

Key facts about the Metro Museum

• Delhi Metro Museum is South Asia's first and only Museum
• This is only Museum that located on a operational metro station in the world
• The Museum has working models of trains, tunnel boring machines along with a giant LED Screen that shows informative films on the Delhi Metro.
• It is positioned in close proximity to many other museums of the city such as National Museum, Philatelic Museum, Parliament Museum etc.