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Class 12 Transport and Communication in India: cheat sheet
CBSE Social Science. 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
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