Andhra Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation

The Andhra Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation is a public sector company in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India headquartered in Vijayawada, that operates the Vijayawada Metro and Visakhapatnam Metro. Initially, it was incorporated as Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation, a Special Purpose Vehicle for the implementation of the Vijayawada Metro Rail project. Later, the Visakhapatnam Metro Rail Project was added to the list. It was first proposed as a Mass Rapid Transit System in VGTM UDA, which was later changed into Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

History

The APMRC was created on 29 October 2015 with N.P. Ramakrishna Reddy as its first managing director. This project was first initiated as a Medium Metro rail project, designed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. However, it was rejected by the Government of India in New Delhi due to financial issues. The Government of Andhra Pradesh then opted for a Light Metro rail system, but faced opposition from engineer E. Sreedharan, who was serving as an advisor for the central government in New Delhi regarding both metro projects. E. Sreedharan stated that the Light Metro system would not meet the needs of Andhra Pradesh's capital city, Amaravati, so the memorandum of understanding between APMRC and DMRC was revoked. Since the central government refused to fund the projects, the Andhra Pradesh state government decided to undertake them with financial support from companies in Korea and Malaysia.