Transport and Communication in India

India’s roads and highway projects, railway gauges and zones, the Konkan Railway, national waterways, ports, airways, pipelines and mass communication.

Key ideas

Roads carry most passengers and freight; National Highways are only about 2% of road length but carry about 40% of road traffic.
Highway projects include the Golden Quadrilateral (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata) and the North–South and East–West Corridors.
India’s first train ran from Bombay to Thane in 1853; Indian Railways now has 17 zones and three gauges.
The Konkan Railway (Roha to Mangaluru, 760 km) crosses about 146 rivers and streams and was completed in 1998.
National Waterway 1 runs on the Ganga from Prayagraj to Haldia and NW 2 on the Brahmaputra from Sadiya to Dhubri.
Pipelines carry oil and gas cheaply and steadily; Naharkatiya–Barauni was Asia’s first cross-country oil pipeline.
Radio began in 1923 and television in 1959; INSAT and IRS satellites serve communication, weather and remote sensing.

Remember

Gauges	broad 1.676 m; metre 1 m; narrow 0.762 m or 0.610 m
Share of traffic	per cent × total ÷ 100 (NH about 40% of road traffic; sea about 95% of trade by volume)
Time taken	distance ÷ speed (Konkan Railway: 760 km ÷ speed)
Highway lengths	Golden Quadrilateral 5,846 km; East–West Corridor 3,640 km (Silchar to Porbandar)
National waterways	NW 1 1,620 km; NW 2 891 km; NW 3 Kottapuram–Kollam 205 km

Watch out

Swapping the broad (1.676 m) and metre (1 m) gauge widths.
Thinking National Highways make up most of the road length (only about 2%).
Mixing up NW 1 (Ganga) and NW 2 (Brahmaputra).

Worked example

About 95% of India’s foreign trade by volume and 70% by value moves by sea. Suppose a year’s trade were 2,000 million tonnes worth ₹7,800 thousand crore. (a) How many million tonnes go by sea? (b) What value goes by sea? (c) Why are ports so important for India?

Working: 95% of 2,000; 70% of 7,800

Answer: (a) 1,900 million tonnes (b) ₹5,460 thousand crore (c) sea transport is cheapest for bulky goods, and India has a long coastline with 12 major and about 200 minor ports