This is the OG Delhi Metro record holder of 15:22:49 travel time

Do you know how many stations the Delhi Metro has? Or how long it takes to cover all of its stations on a single trip? Well, Dwarka-based freelance researcher Shashank Manu has all the answers. This Delhiite, who is in the news of late for taking 15 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds (fastest time) to cover all the 286 stops across 12 lines of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network, has his name added to the Guinness Book of World Records.

“Initially, credit for the achievement was given to Prafull Singh, a revenue inspector who travelled across the entire metro network in 16 hours and 2 minutes on August 29, 2021,” says Manu, who accomplished this feat two years ago. “Guinness cited my omission of Dhansa Bus Stand, a terminal on the Grey Line, as the reason for their rejection, claiming that the entire stretch was not covered,” he says, clarifying that Dhansa “was under construction at that time”.

Ask him how he got to know that not Singh but he was the first person to accomplish this feat and Manu tells us, “When the news of Prafull’s record came out, I sent him a congratulatory message through social media. But in my pursuit of clarity, I specifically asked him whether he visited the Dhansa Station, and when Prafull revealed he could not deboard there either, I was rest assured that I was indeed the first person in the world to attempt this record. In fact, I did it in a shorter span of time.”

Manu then wrote an angry email to Guinness, demanding an explanation for the rejection of his record, and in April 2023, he officially “received recognition from the authorities”. The 33-year-old further adds, “My aim was never to compete with Prafull. Moreover, I attempted this record as my way of writing a love letter to the Delhi Metro. A lot of people the world over have negative perceptions about India’s infrastructure. To prove how this is untrue, I took up this trek.”

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