Transport System in India :Last minute read for Exams in 2025

Transport System in India :Last minute read for Exams in 2025. Taken from different websites from open site of Competitive exam

TRANSPORT SYSTEMS IN INDIA

Transport

 The movement of goods and services from their supply locations to demand locations necessitates the need for transport. Some people are engaged in facilitating these movements. These are known to be traders who make the products come to the consumers by transportation. Thus, the pace of development of a country depends upon the production of goods and services as well as their movement over space. Therefore, efficient means of transport are prerequisites for fast development. 

 Movement of these goods and services can be over three important domains of our earth i.e. land, water and air. Based on these, transport can also be classified into land, water and air transport.

Important Transport System of India

AIR TRANSPORTATION

 Air transport is the fastest means of movement from one place to the other. It has reduced distances by minimising the travel time. It is essential for a vast country like India, where distances are large and the terrain and climatic conditions are diverse. 

 Air transport in India made a beginning in 1911 when airmail operation commenced over a little distance of 10 km between Allahabad and Naini. But its real development took place in post-Independent period. The Airport Authority of India is responsible for providing safe, efficient air traffic and aeronautical communication services in the Indian Air Space.

 Pawan Hans is the helicopter service operating in hilly areas and is widely used by tourists in north-eastern sector.

List of Indian Airports (Domestic And International)

Water Transport 

 Waterways are an important mode of transport for both passenger and cargo traffic in India. It is the cheapest means of transport and is most suitable for carrying heavy and bulky material. It is a fuel-efficient and ecofriendly mode of transport. 

 The water transport is of two types– (a) inland waterways, and (b) oceanic waterways

Inland National Waterways Of India

 Inland Waterways Authority was set up in 1986 for the development, maintenance, and regulation of Inland

National waterways in the country

 The backwaters (Kadal) of Kerala has special significance in Inland Waterway. Apart from providing cheap means of transport, they are also attracting a large number of tourists in Kerala. The famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race (VALLAMKALI) is also held in the backwaters.

Oceanic Routes

 India has a vast coastline of approximate 7,517 km, including islands. Thirteen major and 185 minor ports provide infrastructural support to these routes. Oceanic routes play an important role in the transport sector of India‟s economy. Approximately 95 per cent of India‟s foreign trade by volume and 70 per cent by value moves through ocean routes. Apart from international trade, these are also used for the purpose of transportation between the islands and the rest of the country.

 Kandla in Kuchchh was the first port developed soon after Independence to ease the volume of trade on the Mumbai port, in the wake of loss of Karachi port to Pakistan after the Partition. Kandla also known as the Deendayal Port, is a tidal port. It caters to the convenient handling of exports and imports of highly productive granary and industrial belt stretching across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

 Chennai is one of the oldest artificial ports of the country. It is ranked next to Mumbai in terms of the volume of trade and cargo. 

 Vishakhapatnam is the deepest landlocked and well-protected port. This port was, originally, conceived as an outlet for iron ore exports. Paradwip port located in Odisha, specialises in the export of iron ore. 

 Kolkata is an inland riverine port. This port serves a very large and rich hinterland of Ganga-Brahmaputra basin. Being a tidal port, it requires constant dredging of Hoogly. Haldia port was developed as a subsidiary port, in order to relieve growing pressure on the Kolkata port.

 Mumbai is the biggest port with a spacious natural and well-sheltered harbour. The Jawaharlal Nehru port was planned with a view to decongest the Mumbai port and serve as a hub port for this region. 

 Marmagao port (Goa) is the premier iron ore exporting port of the country. This port accounts for about fifty per cent of India‟s iron ore export. 

 New Mangalore port, located in Karnataka caters to the export of iron ore concentrates from Kudremukh mines. 

 Kochchi is the extreme south-western port, located at the entrance of a lagoon with a natural harbor.

List of Important Ports In India

Road Transport In India

 India has one of the second largest road networks in the world with a total length of about 58.98 lakh km.

 Road transport in modern sense was very limited in India before World War-II. The first serious attempt was made in 1943 when „Nagpur Plan‟ was drawn. This plan could not be implemented due to lack of coordination among the princely states and British India. After Independence, twenty-year road plan (1961) was introduced to improve the conditions of roads in India.

 Roads in India have been classified as National Highways (NH), State Highways (SH), Major District Roads, and Rural Roads.  

Sher Shah Suri built the Shahi (Royal) road to strengthen and consolidate his empire from the Indus Valley to the Sonar Valley in Bengal. This road was renamed the Grand Trunk (GT) road during the British period, connecting Calcutta and Peshawar. At present, it extends from Amritsar to Kolkata. It is bifurcated into 2 segments : (a) National Highway(NH)-1 from Delhi to mritsar, and (b) NH- 2 from Delhi to Kolkata.

National Highways

 The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was operationalised in 1995. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Surface Transport. It is entrusted with the responsibility of development, maintenance and operation of National Highways. This is also the apex body to improve the quality of the roads designated as National Highways.

 The National Highways constitute only 2.7per cent of the total road length, but carry about 40 per cent of the road traffic

 Golden Quadrilateral comprises the National Highways connecting the four metro cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The component has a total length of 5846km.

 North-South and East-West Corridors : North-South corridor aims at connecting Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir with Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu (including Kochchi-Salem Spur) with 4,076-km long road. The East-West Corridor has been planned to connect Silchar in Assam with the port town of Porbandar in Gujarat with 3,640-km of road length.

State Highways

 Roads linking a state capital with different district headquarters are known as State Highways. These roads are constructed and maintained by the State Public Works Department (PWD) in State and Union Territories.

District Roads: 

 These roads connect the district headquarters with other places of the district. These roads are maintained by the Zila Parishad.

Rural roads

 Rural roads, which link rural areas and villages with towns, are classified under this category. These roads received special impetus under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana. Under this scheme special provisions are made so that every village in the country is linked to a major town in the country by an all season motorable road.

Border Roads

 The Border Road Organisation (BRO) was established in May 1960 for accelerating economic development and strengthening defence preparedness through rapid and coordinated improvement of strategically important roads along the northern and north-eastern boundary of the country. It is a premier multifaceted construction agency. 

 It has constructed roads in high altitude mountainous terrain joining Chandigarh with Manali (Himachal Pradesh) and Leh (Ladakh). This road runs at an average altitude of 4,270 metres above the mean sea level.

  The World‟s longest Highway tunnel-Atal Tunnel (9.02 Km) has been built by Border Road Organisation. This tunnel connects Manali to Lahul-Spiti valley throughout the year. Earlier the valley was cut off for about 6 months each year owing to heavy snowfall. 

 The tunnel is buit with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3000 metres from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).

Important National Highways Of India

Railways

 Indian Railways, network is one of the longest in the world. It facilitates the movement of both freight and passengers and contributes to the growth of the economy.

 The Indian Railways is the largest public sector undertaking in the country. The first train steamed off from Mumbai to Thane in 1853, covering a distance of 34 km.

 The first railway line in India between Mumbai to Thane was constructed during the rule of Lord Dalhousie 

 The total length of Indian Railways network is 67368 km

Broad gauge: The distance between rails in broad gauge is 1.676 metre. 

Metre gauge: The distance between rails is one metre

Narrow gauge: The distance between the rails in this case is 0.762 metre or 0.610 metre. 

 Konkan Railway: One of the important achievements of the Indian Railways has been the construction of Konkan Railway in 1998. It is 760-km long rail route connecting Roha in Maharashtra to Mangalore in Karnataka. It is considered an engineering marvel. It crosses 146 rivers, streams, nearly 2000 bridges and 91 tunnels. The states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka are partners in this undertaking.

 Gorakhpur railway station has the world’s longest railway platform

 Mumbai is the busiest suburban railway network in India

 Vivek Express (Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari ) is the longest train route in the Indian Subcontinent

 Ahmedabad Mumbai Central Double Decker Express is the India‟s first double Decker train

  First female loco pilot of the Indian Railways in India is Surekha Shankar Yadav

 The Railway network is divided into 17 zones. The 17 zones are their respective headquarters are given below

Railway Production Units

 Oil And Gas Pipelines

 Pipelines are the most convenient and efficient mode of transporting liquids and gases over long distances. Even solids can also be transported by pipelines after converting them into slurry

 Oil India Limited (OIL) under the administrative set up of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is engaged in the exploration, production and transportation of crude oil and natural gas. It was incorporated in 1959 as a company

 Asia‟s first cross country pipeline covering a distance of 1,157 km was constructed by OIL from Naharkatiya oilfield in Assam to Barauni refinery in Bihar. It was further extended up to Kanpur in 1966

Communication

Radio

 Radio broadcasting started in India in 1923 by the Radio Club of Bombay.

 It was changed to All India Radio in 1936 and to Akashwani in 1957.

 All India Radio broadcasts a variety of programmes related to information, education and entertainment. Special news bulletins are also broadcast at specific occasions like session of parliament and state legislatures.

Television

 Television broadcasting has emerged as the most effective audio-visual medium for disseminating information and educating masses. Initially, the T.V. services were limited only to the National Capital where it began in 1959. After 1972, several other centres became operational. In 1976, TV was delinked from All India Radio (AIR) and got a separate identity as Doordarshan (DD). After INSAT-IA (National TelevisionDD1) became operational, Common National Programmes (CNP) were started for the entire network and its services were extended to the backward and remote rural areas

Digital India

Digital India is an umbrella programme to prepare India for a knowledge based transformation. The focus of Digital India Programme is on being transformative to realise – IT (Indian Talent) + IT (Information Technology)=IT (India Tomorrow) and is on making technology central to enabling change.

International Trade

The exchange of goods among people, states and countries is referred to as trade. The market is the place where such exchanges take place. Trade between two countries is called international trade. It may take place through sea, air or land routes. While local trade is carried in cities, towns and villages, state level trade is carried between two or more states. Advancement of international trade of a country is an index to its economic prosperity. It is, therefore, considered the economic barometer for a country.

 Export and import are the components of trade. The balance of trade of a country is the difference between its export and import. When the value of export exceeds the value of imports, it is called a favourable balance of trade. On the contrary, if the value of imports exceeds the value of exports, it is termed as unfavourable balance of trade.

Revision Notes

 Pawan Hans is the helicopter service operating in hilly areas and is widely used by tourists in north-eastern sector

 In 1911 Air transport in India was launched between Allahabad and Naini.

 Air India provides International Air Services for both passengers and cargo traffic

 Indian Railways are divided into 17 zones

 Indian Railway is the 3rd largest rail network in the world after US and China

 UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Indian Railways are

• The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway 
• The Nilgiri Mountain Railway and
• The Kalka-Shimla Railway, 
• The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus

 India’s first private train is Delhi – Lucknow Tejas Express

 The first Shatabdi Express train was introduced in 1988 between New Delhi and Jhansi Junction

 Shatabdi Express trains were introduced in 1989 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru

 Indian Railways was nationalized in 1951

 Uttar Pradesh  has the longest route (in kilometers) of railway line in India

 National Rail Museum located in New Delhi

 Northern Railways  is the largest zone in terms of route kilometers

 The Maitree Express Running between India with Bangladesh

 Great Indian Peninsula Railway ran the first train from Bori Bunder to Thane in 1853

 The width of broad gauge railway line in India is  5 feet 6 inches

 Siliguri station has all the three gauges viz. broad, metre and narrow

 The world’s highest railway bridge in Kashmir being constructed over Chenab river

 India’s first rail auto hub will be located in Chennai

 Visakhapatnam port is known as Jewel of all port

 India has 13 major ports

 The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) transported the container cargo belonging to the food and beverage giant PepsiCo (India) from Kolkata to Varanasi on river Ganga (National Waterway-1). It was country‟s first container movement on Inland Vessel post-independence

 The manufacturing of steam engine in Chittranjan Locomotive Works was stopped in 1971

 The National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI) is India’s first and only transportation university located in Vadodara.

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