Metro history study

India's Metro Timeline: Every Network by the Year It Opened

From Kolkata in 1984 to Meerut in 2026, here is every Indian metro network in the order it opened — and how the last decade turned a trickle into a boom.

20 July 20265 min read

India's metro story started slowly and then exploded. Kolkata opened the country's first metro in 1984, but the next one — Delhi — took 18 more years to arrive. After that, the pace changed completely.

Today 22 networks are running, and 15 of them opened in 2017 or later. Below is every network in the order it launched, from 1984 to 2026.

First metro

1984

Kolkata

Newest

2026

Meerut

Opened since 2017

of 22 networks

Total span

42 yrs

1984–2026

About these dates

The launch year is each network's first passenger service, not a later extension. Station counts show today's running service, so Kolkata — open since 1984 — has 52 stations now. Under-construction stations are not included.

Key findings

1
The 18-year gap between Kolkata and Delhi is the longest pause in India's metro history — nothing since has taken that long.
2
After Bengaluru in 2011 the pace picked up: from 2015 onward at least one new network has opened almost every year.
3
2023 alone saw four networks open (Indore, RRTS, Navi Mumbai, Bhopal) — the most in any single year.
4
The newest networks are in smaller cities — Agra, Patna, Meerut — a sign that metros are no longer just a big-metro-city thing.

Explore these networks

Kolkata Delhi Patna Meerut

Share this study

X WhatsApp LinkedIn Facebook

Updated On: 20 July 2026

Every network, in launch order

Key findings

Explore these networks