Transport is a service or facility for the carriage of persons and goods from one place to the other.

Modes of Transport

In this chapter, we shall study the transports classified into land-based, sea-based and air-based systems.

Land Transport:

History: Initially humans carried, then animals were used as a beasts of burden, and then the invention of the wheel – carts and wagons became important.

• Revolution in transport came in 1825 – the first public railway line between Stockton and Darlington in northern England and then onwards. The railway became the most popular transport in the 19th century – and opened continental interiors for commercial grain farming, mining and manufacturing in the USA.
• The invention of the internal combustion engine revolutionised road transport in terms of road quality and vehicles plying over them.
• Pipelines, ropeways and cableways. Liquids like mineral oil, water, sludge and sewers are transported by pipelines.
• The great freight carriers are railways, ocean vessels, barges, boats, motor trucks and pipelines – cheapest way – modern channels and carriers can penetrate the interiors in large countries.

Roads:

A most economical way for short distances. However, becomes uneconomical for the longer routes. These can be categorised as:

• Un-metalled roads: simple construction, are not effective and serviceable for all seasons. During the rainy season – becomes unmotorable.
• Metalled: Made up of durable surface material. Sometimes seriously handicapped during rain.

The world’s total motorable road length is only about 15 million km, of which North America accounts for 33%. The highest road density and the highest number of vehicles are registered in this continent compared to Western Europe.

Traffic flows: peaks and troughs (low traffic) occur in cities. Sometimes chronic traffic.

Highways around the world:

Highways are Metalled roads connecting distant places for unobstructed vehicular movement.

• These can be as wide as 80m,
• with separate traffic lanes, bridges,
• flyovers and dual carriageways to facilitate uninterrupted traffic flow.
• Every city and port is linked by highways.

America:

USA has a Highway density, of about: 0.65% per sq.km. Every place within 20 km distance from the highway. Cities on the Pacific coast are well connected with the Atlantic coast. The cities of Canada are well connected with Mexico.

• Trans Canadian Highway links Vancouver in British Columbia (West coast) to St. Jhon’s City in Newfoundland (east coast) and
• Alaskan highway: Edmonton (Canada) to Anchorage (Alaska)
• Pan American Highway: runs through North, Central and South America, 30,000 km in length with a 100km break in the Central American rainforest. From Prudhoe Bay (Alaska) to Quellon (Chile)

Russia:

• A dense highway network developed in the industrialised region of the west of the Urals with Moscow as the hub.
• Moscow-Vladivostok highway serves the region to the east; due to the vast region, highways are not as important as railways.

Asia and Africa

• China: Highways cross the country joining all major cities: Tsungtso (near the Vietnam boundary), Shanghai (central China), Guangzhou (south) and Beijing (North). A highway links Chengdu with Lhasa.
• India: Many highways link all towns and cities; the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) or super highway connects Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
• Africa:
  • A highway joins Algiers to Conakry in Guinea.
  • Cairo is connected to Cape town.

Border roads:

• Along international boundaries, provide integration to remote areas with major cities and provide defence. Almost all countries have them.

Railways:

Railway is the best means for transporting bulky goods and passengers over, long distances. Railway gauges vary in different countries: classified as:

• Broad: more than 1.5m, [Indian Gauge: 1.676m or 5.5ft]
  • Standard: 1.44m,
  • Metre gauge: 1m, and
  • Narrow gauge.

Commuter trains are very popular in the UK, US, Japan and India. There are about 13L km of railways open for traffic in the world. Industrial countries exhibit the highest densities in the world.

Europe:

One of the densest rail networks: 4,40,000km of railways, most of it double or triple-tracked.

• Belgium – highest density: 1km / 6.5sqkm.
• Important rail heads are London, Paris, Brussels, Milan, Berlin and Warsaw.
• Underground railway: London and Paris.
• Channel tunnel: operated by Euro Tunnel Group through England, connects London with Paris
• Trans–continental railways have lost importance to Roadways and Airways due to flexibility.
• The Orient Express: runs from Paris to Istanbul – Starbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade
  • London to Istanbul: 96 hours (reduced from 10 days)
  • Chief exports on this rail-route: cheese, bacon, oats, wine, fruits and machinery.

Russia:

Railway account for 90% of total transport. A very dense network in the West of Ural.

• Moscow– important rail head with all railway lines radiating to different parts. Underground railways and commuter trains are also important in Moscow.
• Trans-Siberian Railway: The major rail route of Russia runs from St. Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok; connects: Moscow, Ufa, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk (fur centre), Chita (Agro centre) and Khabarovsk.
  • 9,332km: The most important route in Asia and the longest double-tracked and electrified rail in the world.
  • Helped open up of Asian Region with West European markets.
  • Connecting links: Odesa (Ukraine), Baku (Caspian coast), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Ulan Bator (Mongolia) Shenyang (Mukden) and Beijing (China).
  • Trans-Continental Railways: run across the continent and link its two ends – for economic and political reasons.

North America:

One of the most extensive rail networks accounting for long-distance bulky freight like Ores, grains, timber and machinery Most dense rail network: Highly industrialised and urbanised region: East Central USA and adjoining Canada.

Canada: railways are public sector and distributed all over the sparsely populated areas. Transcontinental railways carry a bulk of wheat and coal tonnage.

Trans Canadian Railways: 7050km long: from Halifax(east) to Vancouver (Pacific coast) passing through Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Calgary.

• Constructed in 1886, initially part of an agreement to make British Columbia on the west coast join the Federation of States.
• Later gained economic significance – as it connected the Quebec-Montreal Industrial Region with the wheat belt of the Prairie Region and the coniferous forest region in the north – regions complementary to each other.
• A loop line from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay (Lake Superior) connects this rail-line with one of the important waterways of the world.

South America:

Railways are most dense in two regions of South America: the Pampas of Argentina and coffee growing region of Brazil: 40%.

• Chile too has a considerable route length linking costal centres with the interior.
• Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela have short single-track lines. Ports – to the interior.
• One transcontinental rail: Buenos Aires (Argentina) to Valparaiso (Chile) across the Andes Mountains through Uspallatta Pass located at a height of 3,900m.

Australia:

Australia has 40,000km or railways out of which 25% exists in the New South Wales state alone. West-East Australian National Railways runs right across the country.

Australian Trans-Continental Railway: runs west-east across the southern part of the continent from Perth on the west coast, to Sydney on the east coast. Passing through Kalgoorlie, Broken Hill and Port Augusta.

• Another major north-south line connects Adelaide and Alice Spring and is to be joined further to the Darwin–Birdum line.
• The Union and Pacific Way: connects New York on the Atlantic Coast to San Francisco on the Pacific Coast passing through Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Evans, Ogden and Sacramento. The most valuable exports on this route are ores, grain, paper, chemicals and machinery.

Africa:

It has only 40,000km of railways with S. Africa 18,000km alone due to the concentration of gold, diamond and copper mining activities. Important routes:

• Benguela railway: Angola to Katanga-Zambia copper belt.
• Tanzania Railway: Zambian copper belt to Dar-es-Salaam on the coast.
• Railway through Botswana and Zimbabwe linking landlocked states to the South African Network
• Blue Train from Cape Town to Pretoria in the Republic of South Africa.
• In Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia, railway lines connect port cities to interior centres but do not form a network with other countries.

Asia:

It is the densest in Thickly populated Japan, China and India. Other countries have relatively few rail routes. West Asia – least developed – sparsely populated regions.

There is a proposal to build a Trans–Asiatic Railway linking Istanbul with Bangkok via Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

WATER TRANSPORT:

Water transport is divided into:

1. Ocean routes and sea routes.
2. Coastal shipping
3. Inland waterways –

In India, coastal shipping is considered a part of the Inland waterways.

Advantages of Water Transport

1. Low Investment: It doesn’t require much construction for the development of routes. It only requires investment for the development of ports.
2. Ships can be of variable shapes and sizes, and carry a large variety of goods.
3. Cheaper haulage: due to less friction on water, it is the most fuel-efficient for longer distances, transporting material at one-third of the cost.
4. Ocean Routes offer smooth highway traversable in all directions with no maintenance costs. Its transformation into routeway by sea-going vessel is an important development in human adaptation.

In modern times, the ocean routes have been developed, and the older challenges of missing freight and longer time have been largely overcome.

• Modern passenger liners and cargo ships are equipped with radar, wireless and other navigation aids.
• Development of refrigerated chambers for perishable goods, tankers and specialised ships – improved cargo.
• Development of Canals through Isthmuses. Such as the Suez Canal and Panama Canal.

Important Ocean routes:

North Atlantic Sea Route:

It links the North-eastern U.S.A. and North-western Europe, the two industrially developed regions of the world. The foreign trade over this route is greater than that rest of the world. One-fourth of the world’s foreign trade moves on this route -the busiest route in the world: Called the Big Trunk route.

Both coasts have highly advanced ports and harbours.

Mediterranean-Indian Ocean Route:

It connects the highly industrialised Western European region with West Africa, South Africa, South-east Asia and the commercial agriculture and livestock economies of Australia and New Zealand. Before the construction of the Suez Canal, this was the route connecting Liverpool and Colombo which was 6,400 km longer than the Suez Canal route.

• Port Said, Aden, Mumbai, Colombo and Singapore are some of the important ports on this route.
  • The volume of trade and traffic between both East and West Africa is on the increase due to the development of rich natural resources such as gold, diamond, copper, tin, groundnut, oil palm, coffee and fruits.

Cape of Good hope Sea Route:

It goes across the Atlantic Ocean which connects West European and West African countries with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in South America. The traffic is far less on this route compared to that of the North Atlantic Route.

• Only south-eastern Brazil and Plata estuary and parts of South Africa have large-scale industries.
• Little traffic between Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town because both South America and Africa have similar products and resources.
• Trade across the vast North Pacific Ocean moves by several routes which converge at Honolulu. The direct route on the Great Circle links Vancouver and Yokohama and reduces the travelling distance (2,480 km) by half.

North Pacific Sea route:

•  Links West coast: Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles on the American side and Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore on the Asian side.

South Pacific Sea Route:

• It connects Western Europe and North America with Australia, New Zealand and the scattered Pacific islands via the Panama Canal. It is also used for reaching Hong Kong, the Philippines and Indonesia. The distance covered between Panama and Sydney is 12,000 km. Honolulu is an important port on this route.

Shipping Canals:

Suez Canal:

The Suez Canal is about 160 km long sea-level canal constructed in 1869 in Egypt between Port Said in the north and Port Suez in the south linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It gives Europe a new gateway to the Indian Ocean and reduces the direct sea route distance between Liverpool and Colombo compared to the Cape of Good Hope route.

A railway line and a navigable fresh-water canal from the Nile also join the Suez Canal in Ismailia to supply fresh-water to Port Said and Suez.

Important features of the Suez Canal:

1. Handles Wide variety of traffic: It is about 11 to 15 m deep everywhere, which enables it to handle even the heaviest traffic.
2. It is a sea-level canal without locks which makes is hugely efficient. About 100 ships travel daily and each ship takes 10-12 hours to cross this canal.
3. A railway follows the canal to Suez, and from Ismailia, there is a branch line to Cairo.

However, the tolls are so heavy that some find it cheaper to go by the longer Cape Route whenever the consequent delay is not important.

Panama Canal:

The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It was constructed across the Panama Isthmus between Panama City and Colon by the U.S. government which purchased 8 km of area on either side and named it the Canal Zone. 

Features of Panama Canal:

• It is about 72 km long and involves a very deep cutting for a length of 12 km.
  • Has a six-lock system and ships cross the different levels (26 m up and down) through these locks before entering the Gulf of Panama.
  • It shortens the distance between New York and San Francisco by 13,000 km by sea.

The economic significance is less than Suez but it is vital for the Latin American economies.

Shipping through Straits

A strait is a narrow body of water that connects two larger bodies of water, such as two seas or two basins. Straits are usually formed by natural forces like erosion or tectonic plate movement.

Shipping through straits is highly advantageous as countries do not have the right to obstruct it or charge for the passage. Right to passage through a strait under the UNCLOS Articles: 

1. Transit passage: All ships and aircraft have the right of transit passage through straits used for international navigation. This right includes the right to pass through the strait without obstruction. Thus, countries cannot charge for passage through natural sea channels.
2. Exceptions: The right of transit passage does not apply to straits formed by an island of a bordering state if there is a more convenient route through the high seas or an exclusive economic zone. 

Important straits around the world

Some notable straits include: 

• Strait of Malacca: The second busiest shipping route in the world, connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans. India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands make it possible to have strategic control over the security in the region.
• Strait of Hormuz: A critical gateway to the Middle East, controlling the largest oil shipment. 
• Palk strait: Between India and Sri Lanka, although since it is not deep heavier ships cannot pass through.
• Bering Strait: It separates Alaska and Russia. Historically it had not been used much for shipping as the freezing waters of the North Pole are not navigable. However, due to global warming as the northern sea route opens, it might become important for Russia.
• Bosphorus strait: It is the only navigable channel that connects the Black Sea with the Oceans (through Mediterranian). It is critical for Russia to have an all-weather connectivity through ports.

Costal Shipping:

It is a convenient mode of transport for long coastline countries: USA, China, India etc.

• Schengen states in Europe (25 costal countries)
  • If properly developed – can reduce congestion on land.

Inland Waterways:

Transportation through rivers, canals, lakes and coastal areas is known as the Internal waterway.

• The development of inland waterways is dependent on the navigability width and depth of the channel, continuity in the water flow, and transport technology in use.
  • Rivers are the only means of transport in dense forests. Very heavy cargo like coal, cement, timber and metallic ores can be transported through inland waterways.

In India, rivers were the most important highways of transportation, in ancient times. But in modern times, it has lost significance due to competition with railways and lack of water due to irrigation and poor maintenance.

Across the world, many rivers have been modified to enhance their navigability by dredging, stabilising river banks, and building dams and barrages to regulate the flow of water.

Rhine Waterway:

It flows through Germany and the Netherlands. It is navigable for 700 km from Rotterdam, at its mouth in the Netherlands to Basel in Switzerland. Ocean-going vessels can reach up to Cologne.

• The Ruhr river joins the Rhine from the east. It flows through a rich coalfield and the whole basin has become a prosperous manufacturing area.
  • Dusseldorf is the Rhine port for this region. Huge tonnage moves along the stretch south of the Ruhr. This waterway is the world’s most heavily used. Each year more than 20,000 ocean-going ships and 2,00,000 inland vessels exchange their cargoes. It connects the industrial areas of Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands with the North Atlantic Sea Route.

The Danube Waterway:

• In Eastern Europe; the river rises in the Black forest and flows eastwards through many countries. It is navigable up to Taruna Severin. Chief export items: wheat, maize, timber and machinery.

Volga Waterway:

• Russia has a large number of waterways of which the Volga is one of the most important. It provides a navigable waterway up to 11,200km and drains into the Caspian Sea. Volga-Moscow Canal connects it with the Moscow region and Volga-Don Canal with the Black Sea.

Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway:

• Great lakes of N. America Superior, Huron Erie and Ontario are connected by the Soo Canal and Welland Canal to form an inland waterway.
  • The estuary (rises with tide) of the St. Lawrence River, along with the Great Lakes, forms a unique commercial waterway in the northern part of North America.
  • Ports like Duluth and Buffalo are equipped with all the facilities of ocean ports. Large ocean-going vessels are able to navigate up to Montreal, but goods have to be trans-shipped to smaller vessels due to the presence of rapids.
  • Canals have been constructed 3.5m deep.

Mississippi-Ohio Waterway:

• Interior parts of the USA with the Gulf of Mexico in the south. Large Streamers can go through this route up to Minneapolis.

AIR TRANSPORT:

It is the fastest means of transportation, but it is very costly. Often the only way to reach inaccessible locations. Valuable cargo is moved rapidly. Air transport has brought about a connectivity revolution in the world.

• The manufacturing of aircraft and their operations require elaborate infrastructure like hangars, landing, fuelling, and maintenance facilities for the aircraft. The construction of airports is also very expensive and has developed more in highly industrialised countries where there is a large volume of traffic.
  • At present no place in the world is more than 35 hours away.
  • Although the U.K. pioneered the use of commercial jet transport, the U.S.A. developed largely post-war international civil aviation. Today, more than 250 commercial airlines offer regular services to different parts of the world. Recent developments can change the future course of air transport. Supersonic aircraft, cover the distance between London and New York within three and a half hours.
  • Inter-Continental Air Routes: there is a distinct east-west belt of inter-continental air routes. A dense network exists in the Eastern U.S.A., Western Europe and Southeast Asia.
  • New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt Rome, Moscow, Karachi, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago are the nodal points where air routes converge or radiate to all continents.
  • Africa, the Asian part of Russia and South America lack air services. There are limited air services between 10-35 latitudes in the Southern hemisphere due to a sparser population, limited landmass and economic development.

PIPELINES:

Pipelines are extensively used to transport liquids and gasesused extensively to transport liquids and gases such as water, petroleum and natural gas or LPG for an uninterrupted flow.

• Pipelines can also be used to transport liquified coal.
  • In New Zealand, milk is being supplied through pipelines from farms to factories.
  • In the U.S.A. there is a dense network of oil pipelines from the producing areas to the consuming areas.  Big Inch is one such famous pipeline, which carries petroleum from the oil wells of the Gulf of Mexico to the North-eastern States.

About 17% of all freight per tonne-km. Is carried through pipelines in the U.S.A.

In Europe, Russia, West Asia and India pipelines are used to connect oil wells to refineries, and to ports or domestic markets. Turkmenistan is in central Asia and has extended pipelines to Iran and also to parts of China.

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