New Metro Affords A Glimpse Of A Possible India

"Even today, the nearly 40-mile long - and expanding - Delhi Metro system remains on budget and slightly ahead of schedule. It has the capacity to grow to 2 million passengers per day, 60,000 passengers an hour, eliminating the need - in theo- ry - for some 2,600 of the city's wildly driven buses.

...For the time being at least, the Delhi Metro is inspiring a kind of awe among its passengers. At ticket counters, people stand in line patiently, quite unlike the hustle and shoving one finds at a typical Delhi bus stand. The walls and floors are clean, unlike the halls of the typical Indian government ministry, where the reddish stain of paan spit adorns nearly every wall."