London's metro rail network made its advent nearly 140 years before it was introduced in India. London's metro rail network made its advent nearly 140 years before it was introduced in India.

In London, the metro rail network made its advent nearly 140 years before it was introduced in India but merely after 12 years of operation the Delhi Metro is set to surpass the showcase London Underground, popularly called the 'Tube'.

With the DMRC ready to commence the work on phase IV project in a few months from now, the total length of Delhi Metro network would go up to 434 km exceeding the 402-km London Underground by 32 km at the end of 2021. Having achieved the feat, Delhi Metro will also become the third largest metro network in the world after Shanghai (538 km) and Beijing (465 km), both in China. The other Chinese city figuring in the list of top ten metro networks is Guangzhou which is 240 km long.

The Delhi Metro which was first opened in 2002 is currently 190 km long with 139 stations. Completion of the ongoing phase-III project would take up its total length to 330 km and the number of stations to 241. However, with completion of the phase-IV, the Delhi Metro will become 434 km long and the number of stations would go up to 308. With this, Delhi will become only the third metro network in the world to have more than 300 stations. The two other cities include the New York City Subway (422) and Paris Subway (301).