Bhopal enters India’s metro map: Commercial operations on city’s Orange Line priority corridor to begin today
Officials said the corridor has been designed to ease congestion on some of the state capital’s busiest arterial roads and offer a cleaner mass-transit alternative in a city heavily dependent on road transport.
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav flag off a train during the inauguration of Bhopal metro rail service, at Subhash Nagar station, in Bhopal, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (PTI Photo)
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The long-awaited Bhopal Metro Rail project was formally inaugurated on Saturday, with Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar flagging off services on a 6.22-km stretch of the Orange Line, marking the city’s entry into India’s Metro rail network after nearly a decade of planning, execution setbacks and political transitions.
Commercial operations on the Orange Line’s priority corridor, running across eight elevated stations from Subhash Nagar to AIIMS, Bhopal, will begin on December 21.
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Officials said the corridor has been designed to ease congestion on some of the state capital’s busiest arterial roads and offer a cleaner mass-transit alternative in a city heavily dependent on road transport.
Speaking at the inauguration, Khattar said Bhopal had become the 26th city in India to get a Metro system. He said India, with a current operational Metro network of 1,083 km, would soon overtake the United States in total network length as projects under construction are commissioned. China currently leads globally in Metro network, followed by the US.
The Bhopal Metro project, estimated to cost Rs 10,033 crore, has been one of Madhya Pradesh’s most politically visible infrastructure promises. The priority corridor alone has an estimated cost of Rs 2,225 crore and is expected to carry around 3,000 passengers daily in its initial phase, according to officials of the Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation.
The launch also draws attention to the prolonged delays that plagued the project during the tenure of former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, under whose leadership it was approved and the construction began. Conceived as a flagship urban mobility initiative of the BJP government, the Bhopal Metro missed multiple announced deadlines over the years due to land acquisition hurdles, utility shifting, design revisions, funding alignment with the Centre, and disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While trial runs and partial stretches were completed earlier, the project repeatedly failed to reach the operational stage during Chouhan’s tenure, becoming a point of embarrassment for the BJP as Opposition parties frequently cited the Metro’s delays as an example of “announcement-driven governance” without timely delivery.
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For Chief Minister Mohan Yadav the Metro inauguration is being projected as an administrative achievement.
“Metro trains give pace to development and mark the beginning of a new chapter in the city’s growth story,” the CM said. Sharing his experience of the Metro ride, he said, “Travelling on the elevated track while watching the greenery and the beauty of Bhopal on both sides is a unique experience in itself. This Metro is a gift for urban transport in Bhopal.”
The Orange Line is part of a larger planned network that aims to connect major residential, institutional and commercial hubs across Bhopal in phases. Officials said further extensions would be taken up based on ridership response, funding availability and Centre-State coordination.
Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy.
Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free.
Expertise and Reporting Beats
Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors:
National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres.
Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA).
Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking.
Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers.
Professional Background
Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017.
Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh.
Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs.
Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife.
Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance.
Digital & Professional Presence
Author Profile: Anand Mohan J at Indian Express
Twitter handle: @mohanreports ... Read More
