X- SS Geo, Lesson 7- Lifelines of an Economy

Life-Lines of An Economy: Transport and Communication

Introduction:

Transport, communication and trade are included in Tertiary economic activity. The chief means of exchange and interaction between different sectors or regions of an economy. Trades arises on account of specialization and regional economic differences. For trade to take place, transport and communication are necessary.

Importance of Means of Transport and Communication:  Radio, TV, telephone, email, telegraph, etc. are the means of communication whereas roadways, railways, pipelines, airways, & waterways are major means of transport.

Means of communication play a very important in the development of a country:

1.    Help to transfer better technology from one country to other or from one part of the state to the other.

2.    The various means of communication help the traders to have links with other traders and means of transport provide essential products.

3.    The different means of communication act like nervous system in the human body. We can know what is happening in other parts of the nation and world only through this media.

4.    Means of transportation carry common people from one place to another. They carry skilled and unskilled workers from one place to another & maintain balance of demand and supply in the economy.

5.    These play a very vital role in the defence of a country.

6.    It is the means of transportation and communication which have shortened the distances between various places.

Roadways:

·      India has the largest networks in the world, aggregating to about 3.32 million kilometers.

·      Density of Roads: the length of roads per 100 sq.km. of area is known as density of roads. It is lowest in J&K 10 km and highest in Kerala 375 km. The national average was 75 km in 1996-97.

·      Roadways have an edge over railways due to the following features:

Ø Roads require less investment as compared to railways.

Ø Can be built at higher altitudes and at any place- through rough terrain and topography to connect distant places.

Ø Is easy and within reach of common man, available 24 hours.

Ø Maintenance cost is low.

Ø Extension of agriculture is possible only through roads.

Ø Offers personalised services.

Ø Facilitates the transportation of perishable goods across different areas.

Ø Feeder services to link other means of transport.

·      Problems of Indian Road:

Ø Is inadequate as compared to demand and volume of traffic.

Ø Condition of most roads is very poor, can not withstand the monsoons.

Ø Highly congested in cities.

Ø Lack side amnetities- telephone booths, emergency health services, police stations.

·      Surfaced and Unsurfaced Road:

a.  Metalled Roads: 58% of the toal road length of 3.32lakh km. they are the best made of cement or coal tar macadam.

b.  Unmetalled Roads: 11 lakh km of unsurfaced roads. Important in rural areas, can be easily constructed and connect villages with towns, suitable for bullock carts over short distances.

·      Classification of Road: In India roads are classified into six categories:

1.  Super Highways:the govt. has opened road building to the private sector as well as to the joint collaborations with foreign countries. Its policy is to build operate and transfer –BOT. Private sectors will bear the cost of construction, operate roads and collect road taxes (toll). The private companies after realizing costs and earning reasonable profits will transfer the roads back to the rightful owner, the “govt.”. The Expressway National Highway is a scheme which will have a total road length of 14,846 km. There will be 4 lanes to ensure smooth flow of traffic. The road under this scheme are:

      i.    Golden Quadrilateral: it will connect the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Kolkatta, Chennai and Mumbai- 5846km.

     ii.    North-South, East-West Corridor: Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Silchar to saurashtra-7300 km.

                 The superhighways are constructed by the National Highway Authority of India.

As of September 2011, India had completed & placed in use the following newly built highways: 5,829 kilometers of its 4-lane Golden Quadrilateral highway, 5,831 kilometers of its 4-lane North–South and East–West Corridor highway, 330 kilometers of 4-lane port connectivity highways, 1,342 kilometers of 4-lane inter-capital highways, 945 kilometers of 4-lane bypass and other national highways.

Indian Road Network: Major district roads                           470,000 National Highways/Expressways       66,754 Rural & other roads                        2,650,000 State Highways                                 128,000 Total (approx)                               3,314,754

·      Advantages: private sector participation has become essential as involves huge investements and massive infrastructure creations. Will relieve heavy congestions in cities.

2.            International Highways: Roads linking India and neighbouring countries, Delhi-Lahore, Kolkatta-Dhaka, similar road exist between Nepal and Bhutan.

3.            National Highways: India has 65, 569 km of NH 2004. National Highways join one state capital with another and are maintained by CPWD. A number of major national highways run in NS and EW directions.The important NH are:

   i.  Sher Shah Suri Marg- GT Road- Howrah to Kashmir

  ii.  Delhi Mumbai

 iii.  Kolkatta Mumbai

 iv.  Mumbai Chennai

v.    Great Deccan Road- NH7-Varansi to Kanyakumari

vi.    Kolkatta to Chennai

vii.    Pathankot to Srinagar

4.            State Highways: SH, 4 lakh km of state highways join state capitals with distt HQ’s. Constructed and maintained by the SPWD.

Comparison between NH and SH

·   Major roads of the country ·   Connect different capitals of the states with major industrial & commercial towns of the country. ·   Maintained by the Central govt. ·   Commercial and strategic significance ·   NH-8 between Indore and Ahmadabad

·   Major roads within a state. ·   Connect the state capital with the major towns and distt. HQ’s within a state. ·   Maintd by state govt. ·   Administrative significance ·   SH-2,  AMD- Dahod

5.    District Road: Link the district centres with major road, total length is 6 lakh km, maintained by zilla parishads.

6.    Village Roads: connect villages with major towns and cities, play a vital role in development of the village, they help farmers to carry their produce to major HQ’s.

7.    Border Road:  The BRO est. in 1960 for development of the roads of strategic importance in northern and eastern border areas. These roads have easy accessibility in areas of difficult terrain and have helped in the economic development of these areas.

8.    Other Road: rural roads, which link rural areas, villages, towns. These received special impetuses under the “Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana”, every village in the country is linked to the major town in the country by motor able road in all seasons.

RAILWAYS:

·   Principal mode of transportation for freight and passengers in India.

·   Conduct multifarious activities like business, sightseeing, pilgrimage, transportation of goods over long distances.

·   Integrating force for more than 150 years

·   Bound the economic life of the country as well as accelerate the development of the industry & agri.

·   Railways have a track of 63,221 km. network of 7031 stations, 7817 locomotives, 5321 passenger service vehicles, 4904 other coaches, and 228,170 wagons as on 31^st Mar’04.

·   The largest public sector undertaking in the country.

·   First train- Mumbai to thane 34km, 1853.

·   Largest in Asian and fourth in the world.

·   18 lakhs employees

·   Carries 51123 lakhs passengers & 5573 lakhs tones freight in the year 2003-04

·   Superfast, fast goods, container services and metros have been introduced.

·   80% of freight traffic and 70% of passenger traffic is carried by the railways.

·   Most of the railways are found in the level of the Gangetic Plain. About 50% of the total length is found in Northern India. Northern Railway is the longest 10997 km. Factors responsible for this are:

·         Level plain with low altitude, best suited for construction.

·         Dense population, big towns.

·         Intensive development of agri. & industries promoting the construction of railways.

·         Essential to connect Mumbai and Kolkata with the hinterlands of northern plains.

·   Railways have not been extensively developed in J&K, N.E. India, W. Ghats, Chhotanagpur Plateau and Thar Desert.

·   Southern India construction railways are retarded due to hilly areas and rivers.

·   Railways run a multi-gauge system: Broad Gauge, Meter Gauge and Narrow gauge.

·   Uni-gauge system will ensure uniformity, higher speed, reduction in trans-shipment and cheaper transportation.

Thrust Areas of Indian Railway:

·   Existing capacity should be utilized to the maximum.

·   Fast movement of traffic.

·   Computerization

·   Diesel, electric engines to be increased, provides fast, neat and clean travel.

·   Container service for longer routes.

·   Efficient utilization of metro and local trains.

·   Link areas in hilly regions, eg. Srinagar and Kashmir

·   Better services to passengers at railway stations.

Problems:

·   Transshipment from one gauge to another.

·   Over crowded railway stations

·   Bad habits of the passengers

·   Ticketless travelling, theft & unnecessary chain pulling.

·   Damage to railway property.

Importance of Railways In India:

·   Distribution is largely influenced by its crucial importance as well as physiographic, economic and administrative factors.

·   Favourable Conditions: the northern plains with its favourable topography, high population density, rich agri. Resources & large number of rivers which can be easily crossed by bridges provide favourable conditions for laying tracks.

·   Hilly Terrain: foothills of Himalayas, peninsular plateau also provide favourable conditions for laying tracks. The upper reaches of mountains are unfavorable for the constructions of tracks.

·   Linkage: facilitated economic and cultural linkages between far-flung regions. The konkan railways has linked sahayadri with the rest, this continuous stretch can be crossed only through gap and passes.

·   National Integration: links diverse cultures and regions, brought about national integration, economic and cultural.

Comparative Significance of Roads and Railways:

Roadways:

·   Built since dawn of mankind.

·   Easily built and maintained even at high altitudes, higher slopes & mountains

·   Suitable for transporting comparatively lighter goods.

·   Can be laid by cutting tunnels across mountains.

·   Best suited for personal transport.

Railways:

·   Introduced in the 19^th century.

·   Difficult to lay tracks at higher dense forests, sandy deserts or across valleys.

·   Transport heavy freight, machineries and liquids in containers.

·   Some mountains do not favour railways traffic.

·   Cannot be used for personal transport.

The six Production Units are:-

Sl. No	Name	Abbr.	Year Established	Location	Main products
1.	Chittaranjan Locomotive Works	CLW	1947	Chittaranjan	Electric Locomotives
2.	Diesel Locomotive Works	DLW	1961	Varanasi	Diesel-electric Locomotives
3.	Diesel-Loco Modernisation Works	DMW	1981	Patiala	Diesel-electric Locomotives
4.	Integral Coach Factory	ICF	1952	Chennai	Passenger coaches
5.	Rail Coach Factory	RCF	1986	Kapurthala	Passenger coaches
6.	Rail Wheel Factory	RWF	1984	Bangalore	Railway wheels and axles

Railway Zones: The 16 Zones are:

Sl. No	Name	Abbr.	Date Established	Route KMs	Headquarters	Divisions
1.	Central	CR	1951-11-05	3905	Mumbai	Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune, Solapur, Nagpur
2.	East Central	ECR	2002-10-01	3628	Hajipur	Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur,Sonpur
3.	East Coast	ECoR	2003-04-01	2572	Bhubaneswar	Khurda Road, Sambalpur, Visakhapatnam
4.	Eastern	ER	1952-04	2414	Kolkata	Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda
5.	North Central	NCR	2003-04-01	3151	Allahabad	Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi
6.	North Eastern	NER	1952	3667	Gorakhpur	Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi
7.	North Western	NWR	2002-10-01	5459	Jaipur	Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur
8.	Northeast Frontier	NFR	1958-01-15	3907	Guwahati	Alipurduar, Katihar, Rangia, Lumding, Tinsukia
9.	Northern	NR	1952-04-14	6968	Delhi	Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow, Moradabad
10.	South Central	SCR	1966-10-02	5803	Secunderabad	Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Guntakal, Guntur,Nanded, Vijayawada
11.	South East Central	SECR	2003-04-01	2447	Bilaspur	Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur
12.	South Eastern	SER	1955	2631	Kolkata	Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi
13.	South Western	SWR	2003-04-01	3177	Hubli	Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore
14.	Southern	SR	1951-04-014	5098	Chennai	Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Palakkad,Salem, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram)
15.	West Central	WCR	2003-04-01	2965	Jabalpur	Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota
16.	Western	WR	1951-11-05	6182	Mumbai	Mumbai Central, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot,Bhavnagar, Vadodara

 Courtesy: Wikipedia

PIPELINE TRANSPORT

·   Important means of transporting petroleum and natural gas.

·   Coal is also transported by converting into slurry.

·   Cheap means of transportation

·   Can be laid in in-accessible areas, dense forest, deserts, high mountains and even underwater.

·   Rules out delay and transportation loss.

·   Many fertilizer plants and thermal power stations have benefitted by the supply of gas through pipelines.

·   Initial cost is high but running cost is low.

·   Maintains continuous supply of gas and oil.

·   The far inland locations of refineries like Barauni, Mathura and Panipat etc. could be thoguth of only because of pipelines.

Three Important Networks of Pipeline transportation in the country:

·   From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur, via guwahati, barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from barauni to haldia, via rajbandh, rajbandh to maurigram and guwahati to siliguri.

·   1220 km long: From salaya in guj. To jalandhar in Punjab via Virangam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali (near vadodara, guj chakashu) and other places.

·   HPJ Pipeline 1730km long: Gas Pipelines From Hazira connects jagdishpur via bijapur, branches to kota, shahjahanpur, sabrala and other places in Uttar Pradesh.

WATERWAYS:

·   Cheapest and oldest means of transport

·   Most suitable for carrying heavy & bulky goods.

·