Land Transportation System: Road, Railways and Pipelines!
The earliest form of land transport was Man himself. They used narrow paths, beaten out and maintained only by use and rarely were specially constructed except at bridges.
In some parts of the world human porterage is still prevalent today, e.g., in thickly forested regions or rugged mountains where roads are difficult to build and in sparsely populated regions where the cost of construction is not warranted by the amount of traffic to be expected.
In many countries man himself is the only means of transport. In Central Africa, China and India, men are still employed to carry loads for short distances. The relief and climate of Africa from the Sudan to the Zambesi are such that it very difficult to construct roads and railways. Hired porters carry ivory, rubber, palm nuts and other products of Savannas.
The slopes of the mountains may be too steep for animals, as in some parts of the Himalayas and Tibet, or harmful insects may prevent the use of transport animals as in Central Africa, the middle Amazon basin, etc. In such regions, heavy loads are moved by human labour.
After animals had been domesticated a wide range of beasts of burden was employed, including dogs, horses and donkeys, cattle, yaks, camels and elephants among others. Man employs many animals in his service and also employs them as his beasts of burden.
The horse is the common transporting animal in the temperate lands. In the hot deserts of the Old World, camels carry heavy loads and can travel more than thirty miles a day. Elephants are employed in India and Bui ma and parts of Africa to carry loads and they rendered valuable service in the teak forests of tropical Asia.
Yak is the beast of burden in the mountainous regions of Northern India and Tibet, and the mule is serviceable in the mountain areas near the Mediterranean Sea and Mexico. In the north-west of Canada and in Siberia, sledges are drawn by hardy dogs over the frozen snow. The reindeer has been introduced in Alaska and parts of Canada.
The invention of the wheel was another major step forward in the development of transport. The use of carts and wagons, drawn by animals, allowed far larger loads to be carried, or enabled several people to ride in a carriage compared with one on horseback. But these carriages required some medium in the form of cart tracks or roads. Of all land routes, the road is most ancient as well as the most universal.
Another important means of land transport is the railway. Another modern development in transport on land, though as yet of more limited use than the road and railway, is the use of pipeline for carrying liquid commodities of many kinds, e.g., water, milk, mineral oil and gas. But in general the modern land transport means road and railways, which needs detailed analysis.
Roads and pathways have been stamped out by men since the earliest time. 1 hey are the most universal as well as varied form of transport. Roads of one kind or another, ranging from forest paths to the latest highways have several important features.
First, wherever a demand exists for a route from place to place a path or road is soon established. Second, roads can be used by a very wide range of transport agents. ,
The vast importance of contemporary road transport is very much a reflection of this unrivalled convenience to the user, especially in the conveyance of persons. No other form of transport is able to provide such a comprehensive door-to-door or origin-to-destination service, nor does any other mode have such an extensive route network. …… ,
Road transport is particularly suitable for short and medium distance travel on account of its convenience. For personal travel, the car is widely used for both work and leisure trips. In case of the former, public transport is usually available as an alternative but for non-work trips the advantage of the private car is even more pronounced, since, flexibility as well as convenience is an additional factor inherent in its use.
Over the past 60 years, road transport has become increasingly important for long distance travel due to the construction of motorways (known as ‘auto-route’ in France, ‘autobahn’ in Germany, autos-trade in Italy and National Highway in India), specially constructed arterial, dual carriageway roads, as well as the straightening, widening, and cambering of the already existing highways.
Consequently, roads are now being used for the movement of goods over longer distances: this can be attributed to improvements in vehicle technology and, as in personal travel, to the development of better roads and, more especially, motorways.
This trend is in great contrast to the early function of road goods_ transport which was seen to act as a feeder for rail services. A big advantage of road transport is that it overcomes the transfer problems of rail movement and this certainly appeals to some own account operators.
The post-war period has also seen the rationalisation of the public carrier branch of the industry and this has done much to improve the industry’s image in terms of responsibility and respectability. Perhaps the major disadvantage of road transport is the limited carrying capacity of the individual vehicles.
Just as coaches and buses have gradually increased their carrying capacity, so also road transport goods vehicles have developed greatly increased carrying capacities, e.g., articulated Lorries, special bulk carriers, trailers. .
Roads are the most common means of surface transport, but its importance is mostly restricted to national limits. The neighbouring countries may allow or not allow international movement. It depends upon their political and strategic interest.
But this much is clear that all the countries of the world are having road transport and more a developed country, more efficient and developed is its road transport connectivity. Even developing countries are having good road network.
All the European countries are having well-developed system of road highways and the road mesh is very close in the more populous and industrialized areas. The countries of North-West Europe like UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, etc., and also Spain and Italy have dense road network. Many of the main highways follow age-old routes; in England and France and in many parts of southern Europe, roads are often patterned upon the original Roman network.
The French road network is the longest in the Europe, followed by Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Spain. Eastern Europe is also having good road connectivity, both within the country and with other adjoining countries. The 10,700 km of autobahn in Germany is the largest network in Europe.
The former USSR, with its vast area, has developed road transport system, but in comparison with European countries and USA, its road connectivity is limited. This also is because of the fact that a vast sizeable area is under the cover of ice, and in many other areas of central and eastern part, the topographical conditions are not suitable.
In spite of all these conditions, the length of road network has increased more than tenfold since the revolution. During the last twenty-five years, the progress in road transport development is very fast and all the countries of former USSR are developing their internal road transport system.
In North America, the USA has about 34 per cent and Canada around 5 per cent of the roads in the world. USA is now having a well-developed and highly dense road network in the world. Its total length of roads is about 7 million km. Another characteristic feature of the United States is that there are several trans-continental highways.
The Trans-Canada Highway links St. John’s, Newfoundland, with Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, a distance of 7,821 km. The interstate highway network in the USA has been depicted in Figure 13.1. The interstate highway network was the largest civil engineering programme in American history.
Most of the roads in Canada lie in the southern parts of the country. Northern Canadian region is still having limited roads due to adverse geographical conditions.
In Latin American countries, road development is limited and varied. Argentina and Uruguay have reasonably adequate highway networks, but extensive areas are ill-served with roads. Brazil had some 1.2 million km of road, but apart from the network in the south-east, which accounts for nearly 75 per cent of the total road length, most of the areas are still not having road connectivity.
The Pan-American Highway is a unique feature of the road transport in Latin America. These highways have been designed to link all the countries of North and Latin America. The Pan-American Highway linking Fairbanks, Alaska with Puerto Mont, Chili and Buenos Aires is a notable highway. Another international highway is the Garretera Marginal Bolivariana de la selva (commonly known as ‘La Marginal’) running along eastern foothills of the Andes through Columbia, Peru and Bolivia (Figure 13.2).
In Asia, countries like China, Japan and India have a developed highway system and a dense road network. In other countries of South-East Asia also, road transport is the main source of transportation. While in West Asia, desertic conditions have restricted the road development, but now gradually these countries are also developing their highway system.
In China when Communists came into power they began a strenuous programme of highway construction which continues to the present and it is estimated that there are now over 5 lakh km of motorable roads in the country. In Japan, although railways are more important, but the country has also developed a good road network. In Japan, in addition to the A grade expressways that have been constructed, there is a national plan for new arterial highways.
In India, roads are the principal means of transportation. Indian road network is one of the largest in the world. The history of roads in India is as old as its civilisation. In early stages of Indian history, Ashoka and Chandragupta made efforts to construct roads. But, the real progress was made during the Mughal period.
A number of roads were laid during the Sultanate and Mughal period. Most modern trunk routes follow the Mughal routes. One such road was constructed by Sher Shah Suri, which connects Peshawar to Kolkata.
It was named Grant Trunk (GT) Road and now joins Amritsar with Kolkata. During the British period, a network of roads had not only been planned but was also developed. The first serious attempt to develop roads was made in 1943, when Nagpur Plan was drawn. This plan envisaged increasing of the kilo-meter of major roads to 1, 96,800 km and of other roads to 3, 32,800 km by 1953.
In fact, after independence, the Indian government along with the state governments has given this much attention and the process of development still continue. In India, National Highways are the prominent interstate roads constructed and maintained by the central government, while state governments maintained state highways, district and village roads.
The length of National Highways increased from 19,811 km in 1951 to 70,550 km in 2010. Nearly 40 per cent of road traffic in India is carried on these highways. A comprehensive plan of National Highway development in the form of Super National Highways, Mega Highways, Express Highways, North-South Corridor and Golden Quadrilateral is also ongoing presently. On the whole, India is developing its road network on priority basis but still has a long way to go.
Africa is a vast continent, but because of its physical conditions and economic backwardness, road development is still limited in many of the African countries. The total road length of Africa is estimated around 2 million km, of which perhaps 20 per cent are paved.
Though in the past two decades there have been very substantial improvements, the overall picture is one of complete inadequacy. The need for new and improved roads continues to be a major requirement for African economic development.
The total length of roads in Australia suitable for general traffic is about 8.6 lakh km. Most of the road development in Australia has occurred in south-eastern and south-western part, that too, along the coast. The road development was first focused to connect port towns with its hinterland.
All the urban centres are well-connected by roads. Special mention should be made of what are termed the “beef roads” of northern Australia, which are essential to the cattle industry. New Zealand, although, having a hilly topography but it’s plain and coastal regions are well-connected by road transport.
Railways are the most important means of inland transport. Railway was, in a real sense, a product of the industrial revolution and afterwards became a predominant mode of inland transport.
Railways solved two important needs:
(i) The economic carriage by land of
(a) Materials in bulk,
(b) Bulky commodities, and
(ii) The relatively rapid movement of large number of people as well as goods.
The rails always revolve around its fixed track. This provides guidance for the wheels and also enables very heavy loads to be carried.
The opening of public traffic on September 27, 1825 of the Stockton and Darlington Railways is among the great events of history. The date marks the inauguration of the railway era in which we now live.
Railways have the following obligations to meet:
(i) The cost of capital expenditure on tracks,
(ii) The cost of maintenance of tracks,
(iii) The cost of rolling stock, and
(iv) The cost of additional restrictions for the safety and convenience of the public.
Railways are providing both long distance as well as short distance mode of carrier. There are national and international railways, while some intercontinental railways are also in function. Rail’s main contemporary function, especially in developed countries, lies as a provider of inter-urban travel. Railways are able to achieve higher speeds and also easier access into the heart of cities.
New technology has further helped railways to perform their function more effectively. Advance has also been made in improving the design of carriage units which, along with track changes, have promoted a better ride for passengers.
Consequently, train speeds of up to 200 kph are now being achieved by high-speed trains. Railways are providing goods service in all countries of the world. The main advantage of rail is for movement of heavy, bulky goods and of coal and mineral ore in particular.
The two categories of railway, i.e., transcontinental and national are important
Transcontinental railways are those which are running across the continent. The railways running from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast in North America are described as “Transcontinental Railways”. Such also are the Canadian National Railway, and the Canadian Pacific Railway.
But, in common use, all those railways which reach the Pacific Coast from the Mississippi or from Chicago are described as ‘transcontinental’, whether there is a through coast-to-coast service or not. Other such railways are the Cape-to-Cairo Railway in Africa and the Trans-Siberian Railway in Asia. The Paris-Berlin-Moscow route, Paris-Milan-Brindisi route; and the Berlin-Vienna-Istanbul route may be called transcontinental railway systems in Europe.
The Trans-Siberian Railway connects Russia with the Far East. It runs from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Pacific, the distance being 9,500 km. Although this line was constructed for strategic purposes, it now carries a large volume of traffic. The settlement of central and eastern Siberia is largely due to this railway system.
It has additional value as an alternative route between Europe and Asia on the Pacific for passengers and mails. The line was constructed by the government for the purpose of facilitating the work of administration in Asiatic Russia. It is a single-track system. From Moscow the line goes to Omsk after crossing the Urals and traversing the agricultural lands of northern Steppe provinces where wheat-fields are prominent.
From Omsk the line goes directly eastward, crosses the Obi and the Yenisei and soon reaches Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. The line then goes from Lake Baikal to the Amur valley and passes through Manchuria and finally reaches Vladivostok. In Manchuria, a southern branch has been opened at Harbin which connects Port Arthur via Mukden. Mukden is linked up with Peiping by rail.
The Trans-Caspian Railway connects central Asia with European Russia. The line runs from Krasnovodsk, on the Caspian Sea, to the heart of the cotton-growing region of Turkestan, throwing off a branch on the Afghan frontier from Merv to Kushk. Kransnovodsk is connected with Moscow via Tashkent.
The Canadian-Pacific Railway was built during the years 1882-86: The length of the line is 4,340 km. This line connects the Atlantic coast of Canada with its Pacific coast. The line runs from Halifa and St. Johns to Montreal. From Montreal it goes to Winnipeg, the great wheat centre of Canada.
The line crosses the plains from Winnipeg via Regina and reaches Medicine Hat in the Rockies. Leaving Medicine Hat, it goes through Kicking-Horse Pass, and ends in Vancouver. This railway system has played a very important part in the political and economic life of the Dominion.
The Chile-Argentina Railway or Trans-Andean Railway of South America connects Buenos Aires with Valparaiso; the distance is nearly 1,440 km. This route was opened for traffic in 1910. As there is a change of gauge both at Mendoza on the Argentina side and at Los Andes on the Chilean, the route is useful only for the carriage of passengers and mails. Of the four transcontinental lines in South America, none is more important commercially than the Chile-Argentina line. The interchange of products between the eastern and western zones of the Continent is small.
Union Pacific Railway:
This railway passes through the central part of the USA. This railway was built in the year 1869 and is one of the longest railways of U SA. It starts from Chicago and reaches up to San Francisco located on the Pacific Coast.
Its two branches:
(a) Chicago to Mississippi and
(b) Chicago to New York are also important.
In USA, other transcontinental railways are Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railway and Southern Pacific Railway (Figure 13.4).
Cape to Cairo Railway:
In Africa a transcontinental railway was proposed from Cape of Good Hope to Cairo.
There is no transcontinental railroad between North Africa and South Africa. There was a scheme before the World War to construct a railway line from Cape of Good Hope to Cairo. As Egypt was then under the influence of the British, the purpose was to have an all-British transcontinental railway in Africa.
The scheme, however, did not work out. A railway line from Cape Town goes up to the border of Congo via Bulawayo and Elizabethville. From Elizabethville, the capital of Katanga, a river-cum caravan route proceeds to Lake Victoria, from where a motor road runs to the Nile gorge. From here steamers maintain regular service to Khartoum. From Khartoum a railway line goes to Wadi Haifa, thence by river-transport Shellal is approached. From Shellal a train runs to Cairo.
In Australia a transcontinental railway runs between Perth located at south-western coast to Sydney located at south-eastern coast of Australia. The main in-between stations on this railway line are Kalgoorlie, Koolkordi, Post Agusta and it also connects Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra with Sydney (Figure 13.5).
Orient Express Railway is one of the most important railways which connect Paris with Istanbul, the capital of Turkey.
Every country of the world is having its own railway system, which is necessary for the development of a country. But development of railways varies from country to country according to their economic development and resources availability. Some physical factors like snow cover, hilly terrain, desertic and marshy conditions etc., have also restricted the expansion of railways within a country.
On the one hand, there are countries like USA, Russia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Germany, France, UK, etc., which have a dense network of railways, while other countries, mostly African, Latin American and Asian, are having limited railway facilities.
The development of railroads in the United States came not only from political considerations, but also from a keen desire to exploit the easily available natural resources and to move them cheaply. Water transportation eased the situation only in areas where it was possible to develop. Thus, it was railroad which ultimately met the demand of the country’s economy. The first railway line was built in 1825, and the real construction period began in 1869. USA has now more than 3, 70,000 km of railroads.
Canada has a little less than 75,000 km of railroads, the beginning of which was made first in 1835. The original purpose of railroad construction was to foster easy communication between the different scattered communities so that they might form into a political unit. The transcontinental lines were built to connect the east coast with west coast. The railroad is the most important factor of Canada’s prosperity as it helps in providing outlets in export market for the large surplus of agricultural produce. The latest development of railroad in Canada is its extension to northern sides in the interest of mining industry.
The railroad systems in Europe have been influenced by the large number of independent countries in a small continent, each developing the system to meet its requirements as dictated by geographical, economic and political demands. There is no uniformity in respect of gauge.
The railroads are being competed by other forms of transport – notably automobiles. The high density of traffic is in the industrial areas of North-West Europe. However, the traffic is heavier in respect of passengers and not of freight, in contrast to USA, where it is heavier in freights.
Germany, because of its location and larger population has the largest traffic transportation. The low passenger traffic in France is due to low density of population. In Italy, however, large arrivals of tourists every year account for a greater volume of railway traffic even though density of population is low. More recent developments has led to the rationalisation of railway networks in many countries and the closure of many lines.
There are approximately 4, 40,000 km of railways, most of which are double-tracked or multiple-tracked and on standard gauge. The railways radiate from the main cities, e.g., Paris, Berlin, London, Brussels, Milan, etc. Underground railways are important in many European capitals, e.g., London, Paris, etc., and carries huge numbers of city workers.
Among the developed countries of the world former Soviet Union is unique in its dependence upon railways for its transport needs. Considerable railway development had taken place in Russia during Transit times, and when Communists came into power in 1917, they inherited a fairly extensive network which totaled 58,500 km.
Many long distance railway lines had developed, which linked Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad) with peninsular Europe and the Moscow region. The Trans-Caucasus, the Trans-Caspian and the Trans-Aral railway links were completed by 1905.
The Trans-Siberian Railway, which links the European and Asiatic parts of the country, and gave through communication between Moscow and Vladivostok, a distance of 9,216 km was completed in 1916. During the fifty years between 1917 and 1967 the length of rail-routes has been more than doubled to 133,000 km.
This process continued till the division of Soviet Union into several independent countries. Now, Russia is having dense network of railways. Other countries have also inherited railway tracks and are further developing their own railways according to their needs.
Asia is having moderate network of railways, but its importance varies from country to country. India, China and Japan are having dense network of railways. Before the Communist revolution, China had few major railways. Since then the quest for high rate of economic and industrial development has led to the expansion of railways in many parts of the country. Now China is having extensive network of railways, but still a large part of western China is lacking in railway facilities. India is having about 65,000 km of railway track.
The whole country has been divided into eight zones for the administration of railways. Indian railway is a large public sector establishment with a fleet of more than 7,681 locomotives, 39,852 passenger service vehicles, 4,900 other coaching vehicles and 2,14,760 wagons. The railway network in India is quite widespread but still there is a need for its development in many parts of the country.
Japan’s, railway network is only of about 30,000 km, but because of country’s small area, the network is very good and effective. Japanese railways are best developed in the coastal lowlands between the major industrial cities. They are mainly electrified and noted for their speed and efficiency. The Tokyo-Osaka or ‘Tokaido’ Express is world famous.
Other Asian countries are also having their own railway networks. South and North Korea, Pakistan, countries of South-East Asia etc., also have railway tracks. But in West Asian countries railways are very limited.
Another mode of land transport is the pipelines which are used to transport certain items in liquid and gas form. A pipeline may be defined as a line or conduit of pipe of variable diameter and length, but sometimes hundreds of kilometers long, traditionally used for carrying a liquid or gas from a point of supply to a point of consumption.
The use of pipes dates back to the Christian era, water supplies are known to have been piped over long distances since very early times. In China, bamboo pipes were being used in circa 5000 BC, and pipes made of clay or stone were widely used in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome.
The discovery and use of petroleum ushered in a new era in pipeline use. The first crude oil pipeline, constructed of wood, was laid down in the United States in 1861 but this proved to be unsuitable, and the first successful pipeline was made of cast iron in Pennsylvania in 1865.
In the early days of the oil industry, pipelines served local purposes, only transporting the crude oil to a nearby refinery or to a rail-head, but gradually the value of piping crude oil or the refined products in bulk came to be recognised and before the end of the 19th century a number of trunk lines had been constructed.
Today, nearly half a million kilometers of oil pipeline exist in the world, together with a slightly smaller distance of natural gas pipeline. The increasing use of pipelines in recent years represents,” wrote Manners (1963), “one of the most notable revolutions in the history of transport, especially in the transport of energy.”
The United States was the first country to use pipeline transport on a massive scale. In 1955 it possessed 88 per cent of the total world oil and gas pipeline mileage, excluding that in the Soviet Union: of nearly 2,24,000 km of oil pipeline, the United States had 1,84,000 km and of some 2,50,000 km of pipe carrying natural gas it had approximately 2,24,000 km.
Since that date there have been phenomenal developments in pipeline usage, especially in other parts of the world. There has been spectacular growth of pipeline system in Western Europe, in former Soviet Union, Middle East, North Africa, Canada and Latin America. Now China, India, Japan and several other countries are using pipelines as means of transportation.
Technological advances have contributed substantially to this recent and rapidly increasing use of pipelines for transportation purposes. The production of relatively inexpensive pipes on a large scale and the development of the technique of electric welding have assisted, more especially, the use of pipelines. By the beginning of the present century, steel had replaced cast and wrought iron as the standard material for pipeline construction.
The main use of pipelines at the present time is for the transport of bulk fluids and gas but increasing attention is being paid to the possibilities of transporting other kinds of commodities by pipeline, especially since roads and railways are becoming increasingly congested, with inevitable delays in delivery, and because of labour problems and difficulties.
Considerable research has already been devoted to the practical possibilities of conveying a wide range of commodities by pipeline and, in fact, a number of experimental pipelines carrying solids are in operation.