Transportation

India's Ancient Railways Meet High-Tech Scheduling

Google Transit’s new e-scheduling service fits with India’s digital-foward plans. But the nation’s transportation infrastructure needs to catch up.
Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri

When Time released its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world last month, one entry in particular caused a stir: Barack Obama’s profile of Narendra Modi, India’s new Prime Minister.

Pundits called Obama’s writeup of Modi a “love letter.” The president talked up his Indian counterpart’s eagerness to guide his nation into the tech age. Obama called Modi “[a] devotee of yoga who connects with Indian citizens on Twitter and imagines a ‘digital India.’” That phrase is an accurate description of a fast-changing India, borne out most recently its gargantuan railway service.