Transport and communication

1. TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION
Transport is a service or facility for the carriage of persons and goods from one place to
the other using humans, animals and different kinds of vehicles.
MODES OF TRANSPORTATION:
LAND- roads, railways and pipelines.
Road transport:
Cheap.
Fast over short distances.
Door to door service.
The world’s total motorable road length is about 15 million km, of which
N.America accounts for 33%.
Highways: Metalled roads connecting distant places.
For unobstructed vehicular movement.
80 metre wide with separate traffic lanes, bridges and flyovers.
Highest density of highways is in N.America - 0.65 km/sq.km.
Railways:
Suitable for long distances.
Used for carrying large volumes of bulky material.
First public railway line was opened in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington
In northern England.
Pipeline:
Liquids like mineral oil, water are transported by pipelines.
New developments- ropeways and cableways.

2. CABLEWAYS GAS PIPE LINE IN ALASKA
IMPORTANT HIGHWAYS:
Trans-Canadian highway- Vancouver [British Columbia] to st. John’s city [new
Foundland]
Alaskan highway: Edmonton [Canada] to anchorage [Alaska]
Pan-american highway; a large portion of it has been constructed will connect
the Countries of S.America, central America and u.s.a-canada.
Trans-continental Stuart highway: Darwin to Melbourne.
Moscow to Vladivostok highway; Due to large geographical
Areas, highways in Russia are not important as railways.
China: in china highways criss-cross the country connecting all major towns and
cities like tsungtso, Guangzhou and Beijing.
A new highway links Chengdu with Lhasa in Tibet.
India: national highway no. 7 connecting Varanasi with kanyakumari is the
Longest in the country.
Golden quadrilateral/super expressway connects four metropolitan cities.
Africa: Algiers to Conakry highway and Cairo to Cape Town

3. TRANS-CANADIAN HIGHWAY [8030 KMS.] PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY [47958 KMS.]
NATIONAL HIGHWAY NO.7 GOLDEN QUADRILATERAL

4. Border roads: laid along international boundaries.
RAILWAYS:
The railways gauges vary in different countries and are classified as-
Broad gauge - > 1.5 metres.
Standard gauge - 1.44 metres.
Metre gauge - 1.0 metre.
Small gauge - < 1.0 metre.
EUROPE: 4, 40,000 km of railways.
Belgium has the highest density of 1km of railway for every 6.5 sq.kms area.
Channel tunnel connects London and Paris.
RUSSIA –railways accounts for about 90% of the country’s total transport.
Dense network west of Urals.
Moscow –an important rail head.
NORTH AMERICA -40% of world’s total railway network.
Most dense rail network in east central U.S.A. and adjoining Canada
Because this is the most industrialized and urbanized region.
AUSTRALIA: it has 40,000 km of railways, of which 25% are found in New South
Wales.
SOUTH AMERICA: rail network is most dense in two regions.
1. Pampas of Argentina.
2. Coffee growing regions of Brazil.
There is only one trans-continental rail route linking Buenos Aires [Argentina] to
Valparaiso [Chile]
ASIA –most dense rail network in thickly populated parts of Japan, India and china.

5. West Asia least developed in rail facilities because of vast deserts and sparsely populated
regions.
AFRICA: 40,000 km of railways with 18,000kms alone in South Africa, due to
concentration of gold, diamond and copper mining activities.
Important routes:
1. Benguela railway- Angola to Katanga- Zambia.
2. Tanzania railway - Zambian copper field to Dar-e- Salam.
3. Botswana - Zimbabwe.
4. The blue train from Cape Town to Pretoria.
TRANS – CONTINENTAL RAILWAYS.
Trans-continental railways run across the continent and link its two ends.
TRANS- SIBERIAN RAILWAY:
 Joins St. Petersburg with Vladivostok.
 Longest Railway in the world [9332 kms].
 Most important route in Asia.
 Double tracked and electrified.
 Helped in opening up its Asian region to west European market.
 Runs across the Ural Mountains ,ob and Yenisei River

6. TRANS-CANADIAN RAILWAY:
Joins Halifax with Vancouver [7075 km long, constructed in 1886]
ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE:
1. Connects the Quebec- Montréal industrial region with wheat belt of prairie region
And coniferous forest region in the north.
2. A loop line from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay connects this rail line with one of the
Important waterways of the world. Wheat and meat are exported through this route.
TRANS-CANADIAN RAILWAY

7. PACIFIC RAILWAY: connects New York [Atlantic coast] with San Francisco [pacific
coast]
Valuable exports on this route are ores,grain,paper,chemicals.
TRANS-AUSTRALIAN RAILWAY:
Connects Perth on the west coast to Sydney on the east coast.
TRANS-AUSTRALIAN RAILWAY
ORIENT EXPRESS:
It runs from Paris to Istanbul passing through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna,
Budapest, Belgrade.
The journey time from London to Istanbul by this express is now reduced to 4 days as
against 10 days by the sea route.
Major exports on this route are cheese, oats, wine, fruits and machinery.

8. ORIENT EXPRESS
WATER TRANSPORT: cheap mode for carrying bulky material.
Does not require route construction.
Fuel efficient and eco-friendly.
It is divided into two categories-
1. Ocean routes.
2. Inland waterways.
Ocean routes: it is a cheaper means of haulage [carrying of load] of bulky material over
Long distances from
one continent to another.
-Modern passenger ships and cargo ships are equipped radar, wireless and
Other aids.
-the development of refrigerated chambers for perishable goods, tankers
And specialized ships has also improved cargo transport.
-the use of containers has made cargo handling at the world’s major ports
Easier.

9. IMPORTANT OCEAN ROUTES:
THE NORTHERN ATLANTIC SEA ROUTE
It links north-eastern U.S.A. and north-western Europe, the two industrially developed
Regions of the world.
¼ of the world’s foreign trade moves on this route.
It is the busiest route in the world and therefore called the BIG TRUNK ROUTE.
Important ports on this route are Port Said, Aden, Mumbai, Colombo and Singapore.
THE MEDITERRANEAN-INDIAN OCEAN ROUTE
It connects the highly industrialized western European region with West Africa,
South Africa, south-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
The volume of trade and traffic between both east and West Africa is on the increase

10. Due to the development of the rich natural resources such as gold,diamond,copper,tin
Groundnut, coffee.
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE SEA ROUTE
Connects west European and West African countries with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay
In South America.
The traffic is less on this route due to
- Limited development & population in S.America & Africa.
- Both s.america & Africa have similar products & resources.
-
NORTH PACIFIC : links west coast of N.America[Vancouver,Seattle,los Angeles] with
those of Asia[Yokohama,Kobe,Shanghai,Hongkong,Singapore]
SOUTH PACIFIC: It connects Western Europe and N.America with Australia,
New Zealand and scattered pacific islands via the Panama Canal.
Honolulu is an important port on this route.
SHIPPING CANALS: The Suez and the Panama canals are the two vital man-made
navigation canals.
SUEZ CANAL
- It was constructed in 1869 in Egypt between Port Said in the north and port Suez in the
south linking Mediterranean Sea with Red sea.
- Gives Europe a new gateway to the Indian Ocean.
- 160 kms long and 11-15m deep.
- About 100 ships travel daily.
- Ship takes 10-12 hours to cross the canal.

11. PANAMA CANAL
It connects Atlantic with pacific
72 km long with 6 lock system
Shortens the distance between New York and San Francisco by 13000 km by sea.
Vital to the economies of Latin America.

12. INLAND WATERWAYS: rivers, canals, lakes are important inland waterways.
Its development depends on:-
1. Navigability [width and depth]
2. Water flow.
3. Transport technology.
RHINE WATERWAY:
Rhine flows through Germany and the Netherlands.
Navigable for 700 km from Rotterdam [Netherlands] to Basel [Switzerland]
Dusseldorf is the Rhine port
World’s most heavily used waterway
Connects industrial area of Switzerland, France, Belgium and Netherlands with the
N.Atlantic sea route.

13. THE GREAT LAKES-ST.LAWRENCE:
Lake Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario are connected by Soo canal and Welland canal to
form an inland waterway.
Duluth and Buffalo are important ports
Large ocean going vessels are able to navigate up the river deep inside the continent to
Montréal

14. VOLGA:
Provides a navigable waterway of 11200km and drains into the Caspian Sea
MISSISSIPPI WATERWAY:
Mississippi-Ohio waterway connects the interior part of U.S.A. with the Gulf of Mexico
in the south.
DANUBE WATERWAY:
Important waterway that serves Eastern Europe
River Danube rises in the black forest and flows eastwards towards many countries.
AIRWAYS:
- Fastest means of transport
- Costly
- Preferred by passenger for long distance travel
- Helpful to reach inaccessible areas
- Valuable cargo can be moved rapidly
Today no place in the world is more than 35 hours away. Supersonic aircrafts cover the
distance between London and New York within three and half hours.
LIMITATIONS:
Construction of airports is very expensive
The construction of aircrafts and its operation require elaborate infrastructure like
hangers, fuelling and maintenance facilities
INTER-CONTINENTAL AIR ROUTES
Dense network exists in Eastern USA, Western Europe and S.E. Asia
U.S.A. alone accounts for 60% of the airways of the world
Newyork, London, Paris, Karachi, New Delhi, Bankok, Singapore, Tokyo are some of
the nodal points where air routes converge or radiate to all continents
Africa, Asiatic parts of Russia, South America lack air services
There is limited air services between 10-35º latitude due to-
1. Sparse population 2.limited Landmass 3. Economic development

15. PIPELINES;
Used to transport liquids and gases such as water, petroleum and natural gas
Cooking gas/LPG is supplied through pipelines in many parts of the world
In New Zealand, milk is supplied through pipelines from farms to factories
BIG INCH PIPELINE carries petroleum from the oil wells of the Gulf of Mexico to the
north-eastern states.
The proposed Iran India via Pakistan international oil and natural gas pipeline will be the
longest in the world.
1
According to newspaper reports on 17 June 2011, Iran has given up talks with India on the pipeline
and is pursuing the pipeline bilaterally with Pakistan.
In July 2011, Pakistani minister for petroleum and natural resources announced that Iran has finished
its work on laying the pipeline and Pakistan would start the work for building the pipeline within the
next six months.[

16. COMMUNICATIONS
Internet is the largest electronic network on the planet
Communication through satellites emerged as a new area in communication technology
since the 1970’s after USA and former USSR pioneered space research.
India has also made strides in satellite development
It has made long distance communication, television and radio very effective
CYBERSPACE-INTERNET
It is the electronic digital world for communicating or accessing information over
computer networks without physical movement of the sender and the receiver. It is also
known as internet.