Land Transport

Land transport handles most of the movement of goods and services. In the earliest times, humans themselves were the carriers — think of a bride carried on a palanquin (palki/doli) by four Kahars in north India. Later, animals were used as beasts of burden: mules, horses and camels carrying cargo in rural areas. The invention of the wheel brought carts and wagons into use. The real revolution came only after the steam engine was invented in the eighteenth century. The first public railway line opened in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington in northern England, and railways became the fastest and most popular form of transport in the nineteenth century. They opened up continental interiors for commercial grain farming, mining and manufacturing in the USA. The internal combustion engine then revolutionised road transport — both road quality and the vehicles (motor cars and trucks) plying on them. Newer developments include pipelines, ropeways and cableways.

Pipelines transport liquids like mineral oil, water, sludge and sewers. The great freight carriers are railways, ocean vessels, barges, boats, motor trucks and pipelines. In general, the oldest and most elementary forms — human porter, pack animal, cart or wagon — are the most expensive means of transport, while large freighters are the cheapest. These old forms remain important for supplementing modern channels and for penetrating interiors in large countries. In densely populated districts of India and China, overland transport still uses human porters or carts drawn or pushed by humans.

Pack Animals

Horses are used as draught animals even in Western countries. Dogs and reindeer pull sledges over snow-covered ground in North America, North Europe and Siberia. Mules are preferred in mountainous regions; camels are used for caravan movement in deserts. In India, bullocks pull carts.

Ropeways and Cableways

This means of transport is usually found on steep mountain slopes and in mines where building roads is not suitable.

Roads

Road transport is the most economical for short distances compared to railways. Freight transport by road is gaining importance because it offers door-to-door service. Unmetalled roads, though simple to construct, are not effective or serviceable in all seasons — during the rainy season they become unmotorable, and even metalled roads are seriously handicapped during heavy rains and floods. In such conditions, the high embankment of rail tracks and the efficient maintenance of railway transport is an effective solution. But rail kilometrage is small and cannot serve the needs of vast, developing countries at low cost. Roads therefore play a vital role in a nation’s trade, commerce and tourism.

The quality of roads varies greatly between developed and developing countries because road construction and maintenance require heavy expenditure. In developed countries, good quality roads are universal and provide long-distance links in the form of motorways, autobahns (Germany) and interstate highways for speedy movement. Lorries of increasing size and power to carry heavy loads are common. Unfortunately, the world’s road system is not well developed. The world’s total motorable road length is only about 15 million km, of which North America accounts for 33 per cent. The highest road density and the highest number of vehicles are registered in North America compared to Western Europe.

Traffic Flows: Traffic on roads has increased dramatically in recent years. When the road network cannot cope with demand, congestion occurs. City roads suffer from chronic traffic congestion. Peaks (high points) and troughs (low points) of traffic flow can be seen at particular times of the day — for example, peaks during rush hour before and after work. Most cities in the world face this problem.

Highways

Highways are metalled roads connecting distant places. They are constructed for unobstructed vehicular movement — about 80 m wide, with separate traffic lanes, bridges, flyovers and dual carriageways to facilitate uninterrupted traffic flow. In developed countries, every city and port town is linked through highways.

• North America: Highway density is about 0.65 km per sq km. Every place is within 20 km of a highway. Cities on the Pacific coast (west) are well-connected with those on the Atlantic coast (east). Cities of Canada in the north are linked with those of Mexico in the south. The Trans-Canadian Highway links Vancouver (British Columbia, west coast) to St. John’s City (Newfoundland, east coast). The Alaskan Highway links Edmonton (Canada) to Anchorage (Alaska). The Pan-American Highway (largely constructed) will connect the countries of South America, Central America, USA and Canada.
• Australia: The Trans-Continental Stuart Highway connects Darwin (north coast) to Melbourne via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
• Europe: Has a large number of vehicles and a well-developed highway network, but highways face competition from railways and waterways.
• Russia: A dense highway network is developed in the industrialised region west of the Urals, with Moscow as the hub. The important Moscow-Vladivostok Highway serves the region to the east. Due to the vast geographical area, highways in Russia are not as important as railways.
• China: Highways criss-cross the country connecting all major cities — Tsungtso (near Vietnam), Shanghai (central), Guangzhou (south) and Beijing (north). A new highway links Chengdu with Lhasa in Tibet.
• India: Many highways link major towns and cities. The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) or Super Expressway connects the four metropolitan cities — New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
• Africa: A highway joins Algiers (north) to Conakry (Guinea). Cairo is also connected to Cape Town.

Border Roads

Roads laid along international boundaries are called border roads. They play an important role in integrating people in remote areas with major cities and in providing defence. Almost all countries have such roads to transport goods to border villages and military camps.

Railways

Railways are a mode of land transport for bulky goods and passengers over long distances. Railway gauges vary in different countries and are roughly classified as:

• Broad gauge (more than 1.5 m)
• Standard gauge (1.44 m) — used in the UK
• Metre gauge (1 m)
• Smaller gauges

Commuter trains are very popular in the UK, USA, Japan and India, carrying millions of passengers daily to and from the city. There are about 13 lakh km (1.3 million km) of railways open for traffic in the world.

Europe has one of the most dense rail networks — about 4,40,000 km, most of which is double or multiple-tracked. Belgium has the highest density: 1 km of railway for every 6.5 sq km area. Industrial regions exhibit the highest densities. Important rail heads are London, Paris, Brussels, Milan, Berlin and Warsaw. Passenger transport is more important than freight in many of these countries. Underground railways are important in London and Paris. The Channel Tunnel, operated by the Euro Tunnel Group through England, connects London with Paris. Trans-continental railway lines have now lost their importance to quicker and more flexible air and road transport.

Russia: Railways account for about 90 per cent of the country’s total transport, with a very dense network west of the Urals. Moscow is the most important rail head, with major lines radiating to different parts of the vast country. Underground railways and commuter trains are also important in Moscow.

North America: Has one of the most extensive rail networks, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the world’s total. In contrast to many European countries, railways here are used more for long-distance bulky freight (ores, grains, timber, machinery) than for passengers. The most dense rail network is in the highly industrialised and urbanised region of east-central USA and adjoining Canada. In Canada, railways are in the public sector and distributed all over the sparsely populated areas. The transcontinental railways carry the bulk of wheat and coal tonnage.

Australia: Has about 40,000 km of railways, of which 25 per cent are in New South Wales alone. The west-east Australian National Railway line runs across the country from Perth to Sydney. New Zealand’s railways are mainly in the North Island to serve farming areas.

South America: The rail network is most dense in two regions — the Pampas of Argentina and the coffee-growing region of Brazil — which together account for 40 per cent of South America’s total route length. Only Chile has a considerable route length linking coastal centres with mining sites in the interior. Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela have short single-track rail lines from ports to the interior with no interconnecting links. There is only one trans-continental rail route: linking Buenos Aires (Argentina) with Valparaiso (Chile) across the Andes through the Uspallatta Pass at a height of 3,900 m.

Asia: The rail network is most dense in the thickly populated areas of Japan, China and India. Other countries have relatively few rail routes. West Asia is the least developed in rail facilities because of vast deserts and sparsely populated regions.

Africa: Despite being the second largest continent, Africa has only 40,000 km of railways. South Africa alone accounts for 18,000 km due to the concentration of gold, diamond and copper mining. Important routes:

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

Trans-Continental Railways

These railways run across a continent and link its two ends. They were constructed for economic and political reasons to facilitate long runs in different directions.

1. Trans-Siberian Railway …