Transport in India - 2 | Lucent for GK - UPSC PDF Download

Water Transport in India

• Most efficient, least costly and environment friendly means of transportation.
• Water transport is of two types:
• Inland waterways
• Oceanic waterways

Inland waterways

• The total length of navigable waterways in India comprising rivers, canals, backwaters, etc.
• India has 14,500 km of navigable waterways out of which 3700 km is navigable by mechanised boats.
• It contributes 1% of the country’s transportation.

Inland Waterways Authority

• For the development, maintenance and regulation of national waterways in the country, the Inland Waterways Authority was set up in 1986.
• The authority has declared 4 inland waterways as National Waterways

National Waterways of India

• NW 1: Allahabad to Haldia – 1,620 km
• NW 2: Sadia to Dhubari (on Brahmaputra river) – 891 km
• NW 3: Kottapuram-Kollam stretch of the West Coast Canal, Champakara Canal and Udyogmandal Canal – 205 km

NW 4: Kakinada to puducherry stretch of Canals and the Kaluvelly Tank, Bhadrachalam – Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and Wazirabad – Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna– 1,095 km

Ports in India

• The Waterways Authority in India divides Indian ports into three categories, major, minor and intermediate.
• India has about 190 ports in all, with 12 major and the rest intermediate and minor.
• All these ports are administered by the respective Port Trusts, except the newly constructed Ennore port which is under the Ennore Port Ltd. Company.

Salient Features

Kolkata Port (including Haldia) :

• Kolkata is a riverine port, located about 128 km from the Bay of Bengal on the banks of river Hooghly. 
• Haldia was developed because excessive silting prevented the entry of large marine vessels in Kolkata.

 Paradip Port :

• Located on the Orissa coast along the Bay of Bengal. 
• India exports raw iron to Japan from here.

Vishakhapatnam Port

• The deepest port, located in Andhra Pradesh. 
• It serves the Bhilai and Rourkela steel plants.

Tuticorin Port :

• It came into existence during the reign of Pandya kings. 
• It has an artificial deep sea harbour.

Cochin Port :

• A fine natural harbour located on Kerala coast. 
• Handles the export of tea, cofee and spices and import of petroleum and fertilisers.

 New Mangalore Port :

• The ‘Gateway of Karnataka’. 
• Handles the export of iron-ore of Kudremukh.

Marmugao Port :

• It has a naval base. 
• India’s leading iron-ore port.

Mumbai Port :

• A natural port, India’s busiest. 
• A new port, Nhava Sheva, developed near Mumbai port.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port :

• Occupies the 5th position in the world’s faster growing ports.

Kandla Port :

• Called the ‘offspring of partition’ as it was developed after the partition as a substitute of Karachi port. 
• It is a tidal port and a free trade zone located in the Rann of Kachchh.

Air Transport

• It is the fastest means of movement
• Air transport made a beginning in 1911 when airmail operation commenced over a little distance of 10 km between Allahabad and Naini 
• Its real development took place in post-independence period

Airport Authority of India

• Airport Authority of India is responsible for providing safe, efficient air traffic and aeronautical communication services in the Indian air space.
• The authority manages 126 airports including 12 International airports
• The air transport in India is managed by two corporations, Air India and Indian Airlines after nationalisation
• In 1953, all the private Airline companies were nationalised and Indian Airlines and Air India came into existence.
• Air India administers international flights while Indian Airlines caters to the domestic circuit.
• Indian Airlines is now known by the name of ‘Indian’.
• Vayudoot Limited started in 1981 as a private air carrier and later on it merged with Indian Airlines.
• Pawan Hans Limited operates helicopter support services to oil sector, hill stations and remote areas.
• Indian Airlines is now known by the name of ‘Indian’.
• Vayudoot Limited started in 1981 as a private air carrier and later on it merged with Indian Airlines.
• Pawan Hans Limited operates helicopter support services to oil sector, hill stations and remote areas.
• A number of private airlines also operates is India. 
• They are Jet Airways, Sahara, etc.
• The Civil Aviation Centre in Fursatganj near Allahabad provided, among other things, ground training to the pilots.

There are 12 International Airports in India :

• Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad
• Calicut International Airport, Calicut
• Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai
• Chennai International Airport, Chennai
• HAL Airport, Bangalore
• Goa Airport in Vasco da Gama city, Goa
• Lokpriya Gopinath Bordolio International Airport, Guwahati 
• Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi
• Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata
• Rja Sansi International Airport, Amritsar
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad 
• Thiruvananathapuram International Airport, Thiruvananathapuram 

Pipeline Transport

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

Merits 

• Pipelines are laid through water as well difficult and different type of terrains.
• The operational and maintenance cost of pipelines is very less. 

Demerits

• detection of leakage, repairing, safety and security of the pipelines. 

Pipelines

• Asia’s first cross country pipeline covering a distance of 1157 km was constructed by Oil India limited from Naharkatiya oilfields in Assam to Barauni refinery in Bihar.
• It was further extended up to kanpur in 1966

 Some other important pipelines are:

• Ankaleshwar- koyali 
• Mumbai High- koyali 
• Hajira- Vijaipur- Jagdishpur 
• Salaya- Mathura
• Numaligarh – Siliguri 
• Paradip-Haldia-Barauni 
• Haldia - Barauni Pipeline
• Mathura-Delhi Pipeline
• Panipat-Ambala-Jalandhar Pipeline (PAJPL)
• Panipat-Delhi Pipeline (PDPL)
• Panipat-Bhatinda Pipeline