The Delhi Metro might be one of the newest Metros in the world, but its operational efficiencies are second to none. This has helped the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation post operating profits from day one. It is amongst the five metros in the world out of over 130 to generate an operating surplus.

In the last one year, it has brought down its operating ratio to 0.52 from 0.64. The ratio measures that part of the income which goes to meet the operational expenditure of a railway. To put it in perspective, the operating ratio of the rejuvenated Indian Railways stood at 0.78 during 2007-08.

Delhi Metro officials claimed their operating ratio is the best when compared with other Metros, which has helped it generate surplus cash that is being used to repay loans worth almost Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) on the company's books.

In fact, these officials said that in the last few years, Delhi Metro has been able to better its performance as measured on various efficiency parameters like employees per route kilometre, earnings per commuter, earnings per employee and power consumption per passenger.

During the financial year 2005-06, Delhi Metro had around 48 employees per route kilometre, which it reduced to 39 in 2007-08, in spite of its expanded network. Public sector units have for long been overstaffed. Delhi Metro seems to be an exception.

"The global standard is 45 employees per route kilometre. We took a decision right from the beginning that we would not go beyond that and we have been able to gradually reduce it to 39," E Sreedharan, the managing director of DMRC, said, adding: "At the end of the second phase of the Delhi Metro Rail project, we will further reduce it to 32 employees per route kilometre."

The reduction in the number of employee per route kilometre has helped Delhi Metro improve its revenue per employee. Between 2005-06 and 2006-07, Delhi Metro's earnings per employee witnessed a growth of 149 per cent from Rs 382,000 per employee to Rs 953,000 per employee. 

In addition, the earning per commuter has increased by 27 per cent to Rs 11.27 from Rs 8.88 during the period, though Delhi Metro has refrained from raising its fares. 

This clearly shows that commuters now travel longer distances than earlier. Indeed, the average distance travelled by a commuter has increased from 9 to 12 kilometre during the period, showing that people now prefer the Metro to other modes of transport like buses and auto-rickshaws.

Delhi Metro officials said the reason for this is the punctuality and reliability of its train service. The punctuality and reliability of the metro trains during 2007-08 stood at 99.95 per cent, up from 98.29 per cent in the previous year. Delhi

Metro trains run an average of 400 kilometre per day, when compared to global standards of 350 to 380 km.

And finally, Delhi Metro, which consumes nearly 3 million megawatts of electricity per day, has managed to maintain the power charges per commuter at an average of Rs 1.12 over the years.

To maintain uninterrupted supply of electricity in a city where power cuts are endemic, Delhi Metro draws power from several points, including the Indraprastha station which supplies to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.