Top Careers & You Transport

General Studies
Transport

Transport is a system in which passengers and goods are carried from one place to another. Development of cheap and efficient means of transport is necessary for the progress of a large and developing country like India. All types of transport including railways, roadways, waterways airways and pipelines are available in India. Importance of Transport: A country cannot develop so fast without a developed transport system. Development of roads facilitates utilisation of natural resources lying unutilized in different hills, mountains, forests and mines. Transport system helps to send raw materials, fuel and machineries to different industries at right time and runs the industry. Transport system helps to raise the production of raw materials, fuels and machineries etc. by providing market to it. Transport system widens the size of the market. Due to selling of commodities in an extensive manner in large areas, it leads to large-scale production. As a result industry of firm gets the advantages of large-scale production. A developed transport system reduces regional industrial disparity by facilitating establishment of industries in backward areas, because the backward area is brought nearer to developed area with the help of a developed transport system by sending raw-materials to the backward industrial centre and by selling the products of industries in different areas. Transport system helps to solve the problem of unemployment in rural areas by sending surplus labourers to the industries and it also solves the needs of industries. Development of transport system also leads to development of industries because transport system utilizes the product of industries. Different machineries and raw materials are supplied through roads, ships, motors, buses, trains, aero planes to industries. It shows that transport system of a country affects economic development of a country in different manner. Transport system is regarded as a strong pillar to protect the people from the difficulties of war, natural calamities and other problems. Transfer of military equipment, soldiers and war heads is possible only through a developed transport system during war. A developed transport system is necessary to send necessary helps to the affected people during the period of natural calamities. Except this, transport system helps to establish relationship among different parts of the people and strengthens the feeling of unity and brotherhood among the people. Lastly it makes India one and undivided. Railways The first railway line was opened for public traffic on 16 April, 1853 between Mumbai and Thane. In the southern part of India, the first railway line was started from Royapuram to Arcot in 1856. India has the second largest railway network in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. India tops worlds leading countries with regard to passengers/kilometre carried. It is the largest public sector undertaking of the country. U.P, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat are the four largest states in descending order in terms of length of railway lines. Track electrification was introduced in early 1920s. About 28% of our railway lines are electrified. Railways and roadways are the two means of transport over the land. Roads can be built in the hilly areas also whereas railway lines cannot be laid easily. The railways have advantage over the roadways that they can carry a large number of passengers and large and heavy loads to long distances. Also journey by train is more comfortable than by bus.

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General Studies
Transport

India has a large network of railways throughout the country. We have trains from one corner of India to the other corner. Total length of the railway tracks in India is about 63000 kilometers. About 7800 trains carry about eleven million passengers to their destinations every day. Our railway network is the largest in Asia and the second largest in the world. Our goods trains transport about 6 lac tonnes of goods from one place to another daily. The first railway in India ran in 1853 from Bombay to Thane a distance of 34 km. In less than 150 years we have the largest network of railways in Asia. Indian railways employ about 17 lac people. For administrative convenience Indian railways have been divided into the following nine zones: 1. The Northern Railways 2. The Eastern Railways 3. The Western Railways 4. The Central Railways 5. 6. 7. 8. The Southern Railways The South-Eastern Railways The North-Eastern Railways The North-East Frontier Railways

9. The South-Central Railways The Indian Railways have three types of railway tracks: 1. Broad Gauge 2. Meter Gauge 3. Narrow Gauge Most of the railway tracks are broad gauge. Broad gauge tracks are 1.69 metre wide. The trains running in the plains use broad gauge tracks. In desert areas and other difficult areas where broad gauge tracks are difficult to be laid, metre gauge tracks are laid. These tracks are one metre wide that is why these tracks are known as metre gauge. The third type is the narrow gauge. This track is 77 cm. wide. Narrow gauge tracks are laid in the hilly and mountainous areas. Kalka to Shimla, Darjeeling to Siliguri and Mettupalayam to Ooty are narrow gauge tracks. These different kinds of tracks are of great inconvenience. The railways have to make three types of railway engines and railway coaches to run on these rails. The passengers also face inconvenience when they have to shift from broad gauge to another gauge. The railways are trying to convert all metre gauge tracks into broad gauge tracks and some of the tracks have been converted into broad gauge. The passenger trains are of four types depending upon the speed of the trains: 1. Super fast trains 2. Mail trains 3. Express trains 4. Ordinary passenger trains The people like to travel fast. Therefore some fast moving trains have been introduced. These trains are called superfast trains. These trains run at a speed of 100 km. to 150 km. per hour. Shatobdi Express, Rajdhani Express are some of the superfast trains. The other fast running trains are the Taj Express, The Pink City Express, Tamil Nadu Express, Himgiri Express, Karnataka Express and Shan-e-Punjab.

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General Studies
Transport

Express trains are also fast moving trains. They stop at most of the important stations for the convenience of the passengers. The mail trains are fast running trains. These trains do not stop at smaller stations but stop at all the important stations to collect and deliver mail bags. Passenger trains stop at all the stations. These trains move at a slow speed. Big cities like Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai have local trains. In Calcutta local trains are underground railways known as Metro Railways. At present the Indian Railways have three types of engines Steam engines, Diesel engines and the Electric engines. Steam engines are the oldest type of locomotives. These are run by steam and coal. They give out a lot of smoke. These engines are now out-dated. They are being replaced by diesel engines. Diesel engines run on diesel. These engines are more powerful and run faster. They emit lesser smoke. These engines are preferred to the steam engines. Electric engines are still more powerful. They emit no smoke and cause no pollution. These engines run more fast. Most of the superfast trains have electric engines and more tracks are being electrified. All types of railway engines are now manufactured in India at Chittranjan and Varanasi. All types of railway coaches are manufactured at rail coach factories at Perambur and Kapurthala. Railways have two classes of coaches First Class and Second Class. First class rail fare is quite high. Second class rail fare is less. Most of the people travel by second class. Second class coaches are over-crowded. To avoid over-crowding some people get their seats reserved in advance. The reserved class coaches are not over-crowded. For the comfort of the passengers - fans, lights and toilets have been provided in all types of coaches. Some trains have air conditioned coaches attached to them. These coaches keep us warm in winter and cool in summer. There are also two tier and three tier sleeper coaches in the trains. All these facilities have been provided by the railways for the convenience and comfort of the passengers. Some trains have pantry cars. At the railway stations facilities like waiting halls, waiting rooms, toilet and drinking water are available. Tea, snacks, food, newspapers and magazines are also available at the stalls at the stations. Roadways Nagpur plan of 1943 classified roads into four categories: 1. National Highways 3. District Roads 2. State Highways 4. Village Roads

National Highways are constructed and maintained by CPWD. National highways constitute just 2% of the total road length of our country. U.P, Rajasthan, M.P, and Andhra are the top four states in terms of length of national highways. The National Highways Development Project consists of the following projects: 1. 2. Golden Quadrilateral (5846 km) connecting four cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkatta. North-South and East-West Corriodor (7300 km) connecting Srinagar to Kanyakumari, and Silchar with Porbander. Indian road network is the largest in the world. States with longest surfaced roads are Maharashtra, U.P, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat (in descending order). NH7 is the longest highway in India. NH-15 represents the border road in Rajasthan desert. Kerela has the highest density of roads.

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Salient Features of roads: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

General Studies
Transport

India has one of the largest road networks in the world. Roads have been in existence since ancient times. Ashoka and Chandragupta made great efforts to build roads. Roads are important for transport of goods and passengers for short and medium distances. They are relatively cheap and easy both in construction and maintenance. Roads are built even in mountainous terrain. They connect fields with markets, factories with farms and provide door to door service. For transport of perishable commodities, roads provide better services than the railways. Railways are convenient for long distance travelling, while roads are more useful for short distances both for passengers and goods.

Airways Airways in India are considered as very significant owing to the country`s vast size and long distances involved between two cities. Moreover, the airways network is also supported by climate. In this country, climate is favourable for air transportation as prolonged cloudy weather and foggy conditions are almost missing over a large part of the country. The advantages of air transportation are numerous. Speed and ease are the two most significant advantages that can conveniently cross mountain barriers, large water expanses, sandy deserts, etc. All these advantages make airways an indispensable one. Further, airways are not only the fastest means of journey, but also are most comfortable and impressive. Today in this age of speed air travel is the most suitable and contented means of travel. In India, air transportation is practical for one more reason. It can cross pretty tricky topographies, like lofty mountains, dull deserts, impenetrable forests and vast stretches of seas, with minimum pain. For instance, one can envision the northeastern part of the country with enormous rivers, everyday floods, impenetrable forests, lofty mountain ranges and international limits, erecting obstructions in surface journeys. But air travel has made things far smoother, than one can barely reckon. The first domestic commercial air travel in India had started in February of the year 1911. The flight was from Allahabad to Nainital which was a distance of just six miles. With the passage of time, air travel in India has improved to a large extent. The first commercial airline that had started operating in India was Tata Airlines in the year 1933 and in the year 1945 the second domestic airline industry in India had begun with the name Deccan Airways. In 1946 Tata Airways had changed its name to AirIndia and in 1947; Air India had signed an agreement with the Government of India to begin its international operation. Government of India has embraced a new `Open Skies` policy. Private companies in India, with predetermined foreign partnership, if needed, can now vie with two major public undertakings - Indian Airlines and Air India. Excluding Indian Airlines, now there are various scheduled private airlines, rendering regular domestic services. Presently there are several players in the field of airlines in India. They are namely, Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and Jet Life, Air India, Indigo, Spice Jet, Paramount Airways and many more. Airport Authority of India (AAI) looks after all the civil airports in India. Providing secured, competent air traffic services and aeronautical communication services is the basic occupation of Airport Authority of India.

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General Studies
Transport

After the independence of the country, aviation industry gas made considerable progress. India has both domestic and international airlines. Domestic airlines operate regularly between all important towns. However, the international airlines have a limited number of air connections with other countries. In Indian sub-continent, air services are controlled by the Indian Airlines. Regular flights are run between important towns like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Shimla, Chennai, Srinagar, Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Agartala, etc. Further, owing to India`s central position several foreign airline services pass through India. Airways in India right from its beginning till date have come up a long way and the several airlines in the country have a considerable market share. Waterways Waterways provide only one per cent of the total transport in India. The total length of waterways in India comprising rivers, canals, backwaters, etc is 14,500 km out of which only 3700 km is navigable by mechanized boats. Most efficient, least costly and environment friendly means of transportation. Ports in India The Waterways Authority in India divides Indian ports into three categories, major, minor and intermediate. India has about 190 ports in all, with 12 major and the rest intermediate and minor. The 12 Major Ports are: Port State

Kolkata (including Haldia) West Bengal Paradip Vishakhapatnam Chennai Ennore Tuticorin Cochin New Mangalore Mormugao Jawaharlal Nehru Mumbai Kandla Orissa Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Kerala Karnataka Goa Maharashtra Maharashtra Gujarat

All these ports are administered by the respective Port Trusts, except the newly constructed Ennore port which is under the Ennore Port Ltd. Company. Salient Features : Kolkata Port (including Haldia) : Kolkata is a riverine port, located about 128 km from the Bay of Bengal on the banks of river Hooghly. Haldia was developed because excessive silting prevented the entry of large marine vessels in Kolkata. Paradip Port : Located on the Orissa coast along the Bay of Bengal. India exports raw iron to Japan from here.

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General Studies
Transport

Vishakhapatnam Port : The deepest port, located in Andhra Pradesh. It serves the Bhilai and Rourkela steel plants. Chennai Port : Oldest artificial harbour. This port ranks only second after Mumbai in terms of the traffic handling capacity. Ennore Port : Declared a major port in 2001. It is the first port with corporate participation. Provided with all the modern facilities for handling the thermal coal required for Tamil Nadu Electricity Board Power Station.

Tuticorin Port : It came into existence during the reign of Pandya kings. It has an artificial deep sea harbour. Cochin Port : A fine natural harbour located on Kerala coast. Handles the export of tea, cofee and spices and import of petroleum and fertilisers. New Mangalore Port : The Gateway of Karnataka. Handles the export of iron-ore of Kudremukh. Marmugao Port : It has a naval base. Indias leading iron-ore port. Mumbai Port : A natural port, Indias busiest. A new port, Nhava Sheva, is being developed near Mumbai port. Jawaharlal Nehru Port : Occupies the 5th position in the worlds faster growing ports. Kandla Port : Called the offspring of partition as it was developed after the partition as a substitute of Karachi port. It is a tidal port and a free trade zone located in the Rann of Kachchh.

National Waterways: 1. 2. 3. 4. NW-1: 1620 km between Allahabad and Haldia on River Ganga. NW-2: 891 km from Sadiya to Dhubri on River Brahmaputra. NW-3: 168 km from Kollam to Kottapuram in the West Coast canal. NW 4: Kakinada to Marakkanam (Along Godawari and Krishna river) 1,100 km

Inland Waterways Authority of India was set up at Noida in 1987. States with longest navigable length of rivers (in descending order): Assam, Bihar, West Bengal. Shipping About 90% of Indias foreign trade volume is moved by sea. India has the largest merchant shipping fleet among the developing countries. 7516 km of our coastline is studded with 12 major and 185 non-major ports. 12 major ports handle more than 90% of our foreign trade. Mumbai is the busiest port of India. 12 major ports are--- Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru port, Kandla, Marmagoa, New Mangalore, Kochi, Kolkata (Haldia), Paradip, Vishakapatnam, Chennai, Ennuru, Tuticorin.

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