Transport in India

Rushi kedar




From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Transport in the Republic of India is an important part of India's economy. Since the
economic liberalisation of the 1990s, development of infrastructure within the country has
progressed at a rapid pace, and today there is a wide variety of modes of transport by land,
water and air. However, India's relatively low GNP per capita has meant that access to these
modes of transport has not been uniform.
In the interim, public transport remains the primary mode of transport for most of the
population, and India's public transport systems are among the most heavily used in the
world.
[1]
India's rail network is the 4th longest and the most heavily used system in the
world,
[1]
transporting 8224 million passengers and over 969 million tonnes of freight
annually, as of 2012.
[2]

Motor vehicle penetration is low by international standards, with only 103 million cars on the
nation's roads.
[3]
In addition, only around 10% of Indian households own a motorcycle.
[4]

Despite this, the number of deaths caused by traffic is amongst the highest in the world and is
still increasing
[5][6]
The automobile industry in India is currently rapidly growing with an
annual production of over 4.6 million vehicles,
[7]
and vehicle volume is expected to rise
greatly in the future.
[8]

Despite ongoing improvements in the sector, several aspects of the transport sector are still
riddled with problems due to outdated infrastructure and lack of investment in less
economically active parts of the country. The demand for transport infrastructure and services
has been rising by around 10% a year
[1]
with the current infrastructure being unable to meet
these growing demands. According to recent estimates by Goldman Sachs, India will need to
spend US$1.7 trillion on infrastructure projects over the next decade to boost economic
growth, of which US$500 billion is budgeted to be spent during the Eleventh Five-Year
Plan.
[9]

Contents
1 Traditional means
o 1.1 Walking
o 1.2 Palanquin
o 1.3 Bullock cart and horse carriage
o 1.4 Bicycle
o 1.5 Hand-pulled rickshaw
o 1.6 Cycle rickshaw
2 Public road transport
o 2.1 Bus
2.1.1 Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS)
o 2.2 Taxi
o 2.3 Auto Rickshaw
3 Urban rail transport
o 3.1 Suburban railway
o 3.2 Urban mass rapid transit
o 3.3 Monorail
o 3.4 Light rail
o 3.5 Tram
4 Other local transport
o 4.1 Motorcycle and scooter
o 4.2 Automobile
o 4.3 Utility vehicles
5 Long distance transport
o 5.1 Railway
5.1.1 International
o 5.2 Road
6 Aviation
o 6.1 History
o 6.2 Airports
o 6.3 Heliports
7 Ports and shipping
8 Waterways
9 Pipelines
10 Environmental issues and impact
11 See also
12 References
13 External links
Traditional means
Walking
In ancient times, people were so poor that they covered long distances on foot. For instance,
Adi Sankaracharya travelled all over India.
[10]
Walking still constitutes an important mode of
transport in urban areas.
[11]
In the city of Mumbai, to further improve the transit conditions
for pedestrians, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, has commenced
the construction of more than 50 skywalks,
[12][13]
as part of the Mumbai Skywalk project.
Palanquin


Drawing of a doli or covered litter in which an upper class bride was conveyed to the
bridegrooms house, in Delhi (1843)
Palanquins, also known as palkis, were one of the luxurious methods used by the rich and
noblemen for travelling. This was primarily used in the past to carry a deity or idol of a God,
and many temples have sculptures of God being carried in a palki. Later on, it was primarily
used by European noblemen and ladies from the upper classes of society prior to the advent
of the railways in India.
[14]
Modern use of the palanquin is limited to Indian weddings and
Pilgrimage.
[citation needed]

Bullock cart and horse carriage


Bullock Cart in Ahmedabad
Bullock carts have been traditionally used for transport, especially in rural India. The arrival
of the British saw drastic improvements in the horse carriages which were used for transport
since early days. Today, they are used in smaller towns and are referred as Tonga or buggies.
Victorias of Mumbai are still used for tourist purposes, but horse carriages are now rarely
found in the metro cities of India.
[15]
In recent years large cities have banned the movement of
bullock carts and other slow moving vehicles on the main roads.
[16][17][18]

Bicycle
Bicycles are a common mode of travel in much of India. More people can now afford to own
a cycle than ever before. In 2005, more than 40% of Indian households owned a bicycle, with
ownership rates ranging from around 30% to 70% at the state level.
[4]
Along with walking,
cycling accounts for 50 to 75% of the commuter trips for those in the informal sector in urban
areas.
[11]

Even though India is the second largest producer of bicycles in the world,
[19]
a significant
prejudice against bicycle riding for transport exists in some segments of the population,
generally stemming from the status symbol aspect of the motor vehicle.
[19]
In India, the word
"bike" generally refers to motorcycle, and "cycle" refers to bicycle.
[19]

Pune was the first city in India to have dedicated lanes for cycles.
[20]
It was built for the 2008
Commonwealth Youth Games. However, recent developments in Delhi suggest that bicycle
riding is fast becoming popular in the metro cities of India. The Delhi government has
decided to construct separate bicycle lanes on all major roads to combat pollution and ease
traffic congestion.
[21]

Hand-pulled rickshaw


A human-pulled Rickshaw in Kolkata
Hand-pulled rickshaw is still available in the city of Kolkata wherein a person pulls the
rickshaw by hand. The Government of West Bengal proposed a ban on these rickshaws in
2005 describing them as "inhuman".
[22]
Though a bill aiming to address this issue, termed as
'Calcutta Hackney Carriage Bill', was passed by the West Bengal Assembly in 2006, it has
not been implemented yet.
[23]
The Government of West Bengal is working on an amendment
of this bill to avoid the loopholes that got exposed when the Hand-pulled Rickshaw Owner's
Association filed a petition against the bill.
[23]

Cycle rickshaw
Cycle rickshaws were introduced in India in the 1940s.
[24]
They are bigger than a tricycle
where two people sit on an elevated seat at the back and a person pedals from the front. In the
late 2000s, they were banned in several cities for causing traffic congestion.
[25][26][27]
Cycle
rickshaws have been a feature of Delhi streets since Indian independence in 1947, providing
the cheapest way around the capital. The Delhi Police recently submitted an affidavit against
plying of cycle rickshaws to ease traffic congestion in the city but it was dismissed by the
Delhi High court.
[28]
In addition, environmentalists have supported the retention of cycle
rickshaws as a non-polluting and inexpensive mode of transport.
[29]

Public road transport


A congested road in Kolkata showing buses, taxis, autorickshaws and other modes of road
transport.
Public transport is the predominant mode of motorised local travel in cities.
[11]
This is
predominantly by road, since commuter rail services are available only in the seven
metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune,
while dedicated city bus services are known to operate in at least 25 cities with a population
of over one million.
[30]
Intermediate public transport modes like tempos and cycle rickshaws
assume importance in medium size cities.
[11]
However, the share of buses is negligible in
most Indian cities as compared to personalized vehicles, and two-wheelers and cars account
for more than 80 percent of the vehicle population in most large cities.
[30]

Traffic in Indian cities generally moves slowly, where traffic jams and accidents are very
common.
[31]
India has very poor records on road safelyaround 90,000 people die from road
accidents every year.
[32]
At least 13 people die every hour in road accidents in the
country,also in the year 2007 road accidents claimed more than 130,000 lives, overtaking
China.
[33]

[34]
A Reader's Digest study of traffic congestion in Asian cities ranked several
Indian cities within the Top Ten for worst traffic.
[31]

Bus


A recently acquired air conditioned public bus in Bangalore


A Tata Marcopolo bus in use in Chandigarh, India
The oldest Indian state transport undertaking is North Bengal State Transport Corporation
founded by the Raj Darbar of Koch Bihar Kingdom regime on 1 April 1945 with three buses
and three trucks. It is still vibrant and running, providing service to commuters of North
Bengal region. Buses take up over 90% of public transport in Indian cities,
[35]
and serve as a
cheap and convenient mode of transport for all classes of society. Services are mostly run by
state government owned transport corporations.
[30]
However, after the economic
liberalisation, many state transport corporations have introduced various facilities like low-
floor buses for the disabled and air-conditioned buses to attract private car owners to help
decongest roads.
[36][37]
Bengaluru was the first city in India to introduce Volvo B7RLE intra-
city buses in India in January 2006.
[38][39][40]
Bengaluru is the first Indian city to have an air-
conditioned bus stop, located near Cubbon Park. It was built by airtel.
[41]
APSRTC has been
acknowledged as the single corporation having the largest bus fleet in the world.
[42][43]
The
city of Chennai houses one of Asia's largest bus terminus, the Chennai Mofussil Bus
Terminus.
[44]
In 2009, the Government of Karnataka and the Bangalore Metropolitan
Transport Corporation flagged off a pro-poor bus service called the Atal Sarige. The service
aims to provide low-cost connectivity to the economically backward sections of the society to
the nearest major bus station.
[45][46]

The Eastern Metropolis (Kolkata) is the first City in East India to have Air-conditioned bus
stop and it is located in the Lake town bus stop.
[47]

Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS)

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this
section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (August 2012)
New initiatives like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems and air conditioned buses have been
taken by the various state government to improve the bus public transport systems in cities.
The idea of a BRT concept in India - based on the successful system in Curitiba, Brazil - was
first introduced in the year 2000 in the form of a feasibility study for Bangalore carried out by
Swedish consultants but was not implemented at the time. Today, however, the concept has
caught on and Bus Rapid Transit systems already exist in Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Rajkot,
Mumbai and Jaipur with new ones coming up in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bangalore
and Hubli-Dharwad. High Capacity buses can be found in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru,
Nagpur, Indore and Chennai.
[48]

Taxi
Main article: Taxis in India


Ambassador taxis in Kolkata
Most of the traditional taxicabs in India are either Premier Padmini or Hindustan Ambassador
cars.
[49]
Depending on the city/state, taxis can either be hailed or hired from taxi-stands. In
cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, taxis need to be hired over phone,
[50]

whereas in cities like Kolkata and Mumbai, taxis can be hailed on the street. According to
government of India regulations, all taxis are required to have a fare-meter installed.
[51]
There
are additional surcharges for luggage, late-night rides and toll taxes are to be paid by the
passenger. Since 2006, radio taxis have become increasingly popular with the public due to
reasons of safety and convenience.
[52]
In cities and localities where taxis are expensive or do
not ply as per the government or municipal regulated fares, people use share taxis. These are
normal taxis which carry one or more passengers travelling to destinations either en route to
the final destination, or near the final destination.
[citation needed]
The passengers are charged
according to the number of people with different destinations. A similar system exists for
autorickshaws, known as share autos.
[citation needed]
The city of Mumbai will soon be the first
city in India, to have an "in-taxi" magazine, titled MumBaee, which will be issued to taxis
which are part of the Mumbai Taximen's Union. The magazine debuted on 13 July 2009.
[53]

In Kolkata there are many no refusal taxis available with white and blue in colour.
[54]

Auto Rickshaw
Main article: Autorickshaw


Autorickshaw in Mumbai
An auto rickshaw is a three-wheeler vehicle for hire that has both side doors and is generally
characterised by a small cabin for the driver in the front and a seat for passengers in the
rear.
[55]
Generally it is painted in yellow, green or black colour and has a black, yellow or
green canopy on the top, but designs vary considerably from place to place. The color of the
autorickshaw is also determined by the fuel that it is powered by, for example Ahmedabad
and Delhi have green autos indicating the use of compressed natural gas, whereas the autos of
Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore have green or black autos indicating the use of LPG.
[citation needed]

In Mumbai and other metropolitan cities, 'autos' or 'ricks' as they are popularly known have
regulated metered fares. A recent law prohibits auto rickshaw drivers from charging more
than the specified fare, or charging night-fare before midnight, and also prohibits the driver
from refusing to go to a particular location. Mumbai and Kolkata are also the only two cities
which prohibit auto rickshaws from entering a certain part of the city, in these cases being
South Mumbai and certain parts of Downtown Kolkata.
[56]
However, in cities like Chennai, it
is common to see autorickshaw drivers demand more than the specified fare and refuse to use
fare meter
[57]

Airports and railway stations at many cities such as Howrah, Chennai and Bengaluru provide
a facility of prepaid auto booths, where the passenger pays a fixed fare as set by the
authorities for various locations.
[58]

Urban rail transport
Suburban railway
Main article: Suburban rail in India


A MRTS station in the city of Chennai


Delhi Metro, operational since 2002


Purple Line of Namma Metro in central Bangalore


India's oldest metro is the Kolkata Metro
The present suburban railway services in India are limited and are operational only in
Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad .
[30]
The Mumbai Suburban Railway
is the first rail system in India which began services in Mumbai in 1867, transports 6.3
million passengers daily and has the highest passenger density in the world.
[59]
The first rapid
transit system in India, the Kolkata Suburban Railway, was established in Kolkata in 1854.
[60]

Its first service ran between Howrah and Hooghly covering a distance of 38.6 km (24 mi).
Urban mass rapid transit
Main article: Rapid transit in India
The first modern rapid transit in India is the Kolkata Metro and started its operations in
1984,this is also the 17Th Zone of the Indian Railways.
[61]
The Delhi Metro in New Delhi is
the second conventional metro and began operations in 2002. The Namma Metro in
Bengalore is India's third operational rapid transit and began operations in 2011. Currently,
rapid transit systems have been deployed in these cities and more are under construction or in
planning in several major cities of India.
Cities that have a metro system
Kolkata Metro
Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System
Delhi Metro
Bangalore Metro
Mumbai Metro
Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon
Metro systems under Construction
Jaipur Metro
Chennai Metro
Hyderabad Metro
Navi Mumbai Metro
Kochi Metro
Monorail
Monorail in India is generally considered as feeder system for the Metro train. Mumbai
Monorail is the first operational monorail network in India
[62]
(excluding the Skybus Metro
Test Track in Goa) since the Patiala State Monorail Trainways closed in 1927.
Green background for the systems that are currently operational. Blue background for the
systems that are currently in planning.
System City
Opening
Year
System
length
(km)
No.
of
lines
No. of lines
under
construction
Mumbai Mumbai Monorail
2
February
2014
8.26 1

Thiruvananthapuram
Monorail
Thiruvananthapuram 2015 22.50 2 1
Chennai Monorail Chennai 2014 57 3

Bangalore Monorail Bangalore

60 3

Delhi Monorail Delhi

90 6

Indore Monorail Indore

Kanpur Monorail Kanpur

63 6

Kolkata Monorail Kolkata

72 2

Kozhikode Monorail Kozhikode 2015 35 1

Navi Mumbai
Monorail
Navi Mumbai 2014 38 2

Patna Monorail Patna

32 4

Pune Monorail Pune

52 2

Aizawl Monorail Aizawl 2015 5 1

Light rail

This section requires expansion. (July 2013)
Like Monorails, Light rail is also considered as a feeder system for the Metro systems. Two
Light rail projects have been proposed in Delhi and Kolkata.
System City
Opening
Year
System
length (km)
No. of
lines
No. of lines under
construction
Delhi Light Rail
Transit
Delhi

45 3

Kolkata LRTS Kolkata

2

Tram
Main article: Tram transport in India


Kolkata tram is the only remaining tram network in India
The arrival of British rule in India saw trams in addition to trains, being introduced in many
cities including Bombay and Kolkata. The Kolkata tram is currently the only tram system in
the country and provides an emission-free means of transport in Kolkata while the other tram
systems in India were phased out. The nationalised Calcutta Tramways Company is in the
process of upgrading the existing tramway network at a cost of 240 million
(US$4.0 million).
[63]
Presently the limited tram system in India is extremely slow and
technologically backward, new light rail projects are being proposed rather than tram projects
which have one reason or another not been very successful in the country.
[citation needed]

However, there are some proposals to reintroduce trams as a new transport avatar in some
new Indian cities.
[64]
There are also plans to introduce trams in medium sized cities.
[65]

Other local transport
Motorcycle and scooter

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged
and removed. (July 2012)
Motorised two-wheel vehicles like scooters, motorcycles and mopeds are very popular mode
of transport due to their fuel efficiency and ease of use in congested roads or streets. The
number of two-wheelers sold is several times that of cars. There were 47.5 million powered
two-wheelers in India in 2003 compared with just 8.6 million cars.
[66]
Yamaha, Hero
MotoCorp, Honda, TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra 2 Wheelers are the largest two-
wheeler companies in terms of market-share.
[67]
Royal Enfield, an iconic brand name in the
country, manufactures different variants of the British Bullet motorcycle which is a classic
motorcycle that is still in production.
[68]

Manufacture of scooters in India started when Automobile Products of India (API), set up at
Mumbai and incorporated in 1949, began assembling Innocenti-built Lambretta scooters in
India post independence.
[citation needed]
They eventually acquired licence for the Li150 series
model, of which they began full-fledged production from the early sixties onwards.
[citation
needed]
In 1972, Scooters India Ltd (SIL), a state-run enterprise based in Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh, bought the entire manufacturing rights of the last Innocenti Lambretta model. API
has infrastructural facilities at Mumbai, Aurangabad, and Chennai but has been non-
operational since 2002. SIL stopped producing scooters in 1998.
[citation needed]

Motorcycles and scooters can be rented in many cities. Wearing protective headgear is
mandatory for both the rider and the pillion-rider in most cities.
[citation needed]

Automobile
Private vehicles account for 30% of the total transport demand in urban areas of India. An
average of 963 new private vehicles are registered every day in Delhi alone.
[69]
The number
of automobiles produced in India rose from 6.3 million (6.3 million) in 2002-03 to 11 million
(11.2 million) in 2008-09.
[70]
However, India still has a very low rate of car ownership. When
comparing car ownership between BRIC developing countries, it is on a par with China,
[66]

and exceeded by Brazil and Russia.
[71]

Compact cars, especially hatchbacks predominate due to affordability, fuel efficiency,
congestion, and lack of parking space in most cities. Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors are the
most popular brands in the order of their market share. The Ambassador once had a
monopoly but is now an icon of pre-liberalisation India, and is still used by taxi companies.
Maruti 800 launched in 1984 created the first revolution in the Indian auto sector because of
its low pricing. It had the highest market share until 2004, when it was overtaken by other
low cost models from Maruti such as the Alto and the Wagon R, the Indica from Tata Motors
and the Santro from Hyundai. Over the 20-year period since its introduction, about
2.4 million units of the Maruti 800 have been sold.
[72]
However, with the launch of the Tata
Nano, the least expensive production car in the world,
[73]
maruti 800 lost its popularity.
India is also known for a variety of indigenous vehicles made in villages out of simple motors
and vehicle spare-parts. A few of these innovations are the Jugaad, Maruta, Chhakda, peter
rehda and the Fame.
[74]

In the city of Bengaluru, Radio One and the Bangalore Traffic Police, launched a carpooling
drive which has involved celebrities such as Robin Uthappa, and Rahul Dravid encouraging
the public to carpool.
[75][76][77]
The initiative got a good response, and by the end of May
2009, 10,000 people are said to have carpooled in the city.
[78]

Utility vehicles
The first utility vehicle in India was manufactured by Mahindra and Mahindra. It was a copy
of the original Jeep and was manufactured under licence.
[79]
The vehicle was an instant hit
and made Mahindra one of the top companies in India. The Indian Army and police
extensively use Mahindra vehicles along with Maruti Gypsys for transporting personnel and
equipment.
Tata Motors, the automobile manufacturing arm of the Tata Group, launched its first utility
vehicle, the Tata Sumo, in 1994.
[80][81]
The Sumo, owing to its then-modern design, captured
a 31% share of the market within two years.
[82]
The Tempo trax from Force Motors till
recently was ruling the rural areas. Sports utility vehicles now form a sizeable part of the
passenger vehicle market.
[83]
Models from Tata, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Chevrolet and other
brands are available.
[84]

Long distance transport
Railway


Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in West Bengal is a World Heritage Site,
[85]
and one of the
two steam engine operated railway line in India, other being Nilgiri Mountain Railway.
Main articles: Rail transport in India and Indian Railways
Rail services in India, first introduced in 1853, are provided by the state-run Indian Railways
under the supervision of the Ministry of Railways. Indian Railways provides an important
mode of transport in India, transporting over 18 million passengers and more than 2 million
tonnes of freight daily across one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world.
[86]
The
proposal to construct to build the highest railway track in the world from Manali to Leh
overtaking current record of Beijing-Lhasa Railway line has not been taken up for
implementation. By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were forty-two rail systems.
In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, becoming one of the largest networks in
the world. Indian Railways is divided into seventeen zones including the Kolkata Metro
Railway.
[87]
The city of joy "Kolkata" is the Headquarters of three Railway Zones in India
namely Eastern Railway zone, South Eastern Railway Zone and the Kolkata Metro.The
Indian Railways are further sub-divided into sixty seven divisions, each having a divisional
headquarters.
[88][89]



New initiatives include the introduction of double decker carriages
The rail network traverses through the length and breadth of the country, covering more than
7,000 stations over a total route length of more than 65,000 km (40,000 mi) and track length
of about 115,000 km (71,000 mi).
[86]
About 22,224 km (13,809 mi) or 34% of the route-
kilometre was electrified as on 31 March 2012.
[90]
Indian Railways is the world's largest
commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.4 million employees.
[91][92]
As to rolling
stock, IR owns over 200,000 (freight) wagons, 50,000 coaches and 8,000 locomotives.
[91]
It
also owns locomotive and coach production facilities. It operates both long distance and
suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges, and is in
the process of converting most of the metre gauge (5,000 km (3,100 mi) at end of 2012) and
narrow gauge tracks into broad gauge in a project called Project Unigauge.
The Indian Railways runs a number of special types of services which are given higher
priority. The Rajdhani trains introduced in 1969 provides connectivity between the national
capital, Delhi and capitals of the states. On the other hand, Shatabdi Express provides
connectivity between centres of tourism, pilgrimage or business. The Shatabdi Express trains
run over short to medium distances and do not have sleepers while the Rajdhani Expresses
run over longer distances and have only sleeping accommodation. Both series of trains have a
regular speed of 110 to 140 km/h (81 to 87 mph) but average speed of less than
100 km/h.
[citation needed]
The 12001 Bhopal Shatabdi express, however, runs at a peak speed of
150 km/h on small stretches which makes it the fastest train in India. The other specialised
services operated by the Railways are the Duronto Express (without any commercial stop
between the origin and the destination but with a few technical stops for crew change and
food intake) and Garib Raths that provide cheap no-frill airconditioned rail travel. Besides,
The Indian Railways also operates a number of luxury trains which cater to various tourist
circuits. For instance, the Palace on Wheels serves the Rajasthan circuit and the The Golden
Chariot serves the Karnataka and Goa circuits.
[citation needed]
There are two UNESCO World
Heritage Sites on IR the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus
[93]
and the Mountain railways of
India. The latter is not a contiguous railway line but comprises the following three separate
historic railway lines located in different parts of India:
[94]

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a 610 mm (2 ft) narrow gauge railway in West
Bengal.
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3
3

8
in) metre gauge railway to Ooty
in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu
The Kalka-Shimla Railway, a 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway in the Shivalik
mountains in Himachal Pradesh.
The Maharaja Railways (Gwalior Light Railway), a 610 mm narrow gauge line from
Gwalior to Sheopur of 198 km. in length is world's longest narrow gauge railway line
in the UNESCO world heritage tentative list.
[citation needed]

The Neral-Matheran Railway, a 20 km long 610 mm narrow gauge railway
connecting Matheran just north of Bombay is also a historic line.
The Indian Railways has also initiated a number of highly ambitious projects to provide
connectivity to the remote and inaccessible areas of the country.
[citation needed]
The 738 km long
Konkan Railway with 2000 bridges and 91 tunnels is one such highly difficult project
through fragile mountainous terrain of the Konkan region
[citation needed]
to connect two
important port cities of Mangalore and Mumbai by a short route and was constructed in 1991-
1998. Another such highly ambitious project is the Kashmir Railway, the Kashmir valley part
of which was completed in 2009.
[95]

Proposals have been made to construct high-speed railway lines in India but no concrete
action has been taken. In 1999, the Konkan Railway Corporation introduced the Roll on Roll
Off (RORO) service, a unique road-rail synergy system, on the section between Kolad in
Maharashtra and Verna in Goa,
[96]
which was extended up to Surathkal in Karnataka in
2004.
[97][98]
The RORO service, the first of its kind in India, allowed trucks to be transported
on flatbed trailers. It was highly popular,
[99]
carrying about 110,000 trucks and bringing in
about 740 million worth of earnings to the corporation till 2007.
[100]

As the railway tracks from Kandla, Pipavav, Mundra and other ports in Saurashtra to
Ahmedabad and Palanpur and then to Rewari via Ringas are not electrified, freight trains
(goods trains) with containers double-stacked ply on this route to Rewari junction and then
take the containers further north from Rewari. Infringements like low road overbridges and
foot overbridges that fouled with double-stacked containers were either dismantled or raised
in years 2004-06 for running these freight trains. In India freight (goods) trains can carry
standard containers double-stacked on flat-bed wagons with normal axle load of about 22
tonnes and do not require special low-bed wagons unlike in other countries that have
(relatively narrow) 1,435 mm (4 ft 8
1

2
in) standard gauge. They carry almost 4000 tonnes
per rake which is almost twice the load a normal goods train can haul. Some double-stacked
container freight trains on this route through Rewari station also carry "high cube" containers
that are 2896 mm (9 ft 6-inch) high (higher than standard containers that are generally 8 ft or
2.438 mm high) on special low-well wagons owned by private clients. Some private logistics
operators have built container storage yards north of Rewari near Garhi Harsaru for this
purpose.
International
Rail links between India and neighbouring countries are not well-developed. Two trains
operate to Pakistan - the Samjhauta Express between Delhi and Lahore, and the Thar Express
between Jodhpur and Karachi. Bangladesh is connected by a bi-weekly train, the Maitree
Express that runs from Kolkata to Dhaka. Nominal rail links to Nepal exist passenger
services between Jaynagar and Bijalpura, and freight services between Raxaul and
Birganj.
[101]

No rail link exists with Myanmar but a railway line is to be built through from Jiribam (in
Manipur) to Tamu through Imphal and Moreh.
[102]
The construction of this missing link, as
per the feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of External Affairs through RITES Ltd, is
estimated to cost 29.41 billion (US$490 million).
[103]
An 18 km railway link with Bhutan is
being constructed from Hashimara in West Bengal to Toribari in Bhutan. No rail link exists
with either China or Sri Lanka,.
[104]
A railway line is being built from Siliguri to Rangpo in
Sikkim but there are no plans to extend it further north towards China.
Road
Main article: Indian road network


The Network of National Highways in India.
India has a network of National Highways connecting all the major cities and state capitals,
forming the economic backbone of the country. As of 2013, India has a total of 70,934 km
(44,076 mi) of National Highways, of which 1,208 km (751 mi) are classified as
expressways.
[105]
Under National Highways Development Project (NHDP), work is under
progress to equip some of the important national highways with four lanes; also there is a
plan to convert some stretches of these roads to six lanes.
[106]
However congestion and
bureaucratic delays en route ensure that trucking goods from Gurgaon to the port in Mumbai
can take up to 10 days.
[107]

As per the National Highways Authority of India, about 65% of freight and 80% passenger
traffic is carried by the roads. The National Highways carry about 40% of total road traffic,
though only about 2% of the road network is covered by these roads.
[105]
Average growth of
the number of vehicles has been around 10.16% per annum over recent years.
[105]
Highways
have facilitated development along the route and many towns have sprung up along major
highways. Road transport Benchmark Freight Index (BFI) initiative taken in India in recently
by ITRANS.
[citation needed]

All national highways are metalled, but very few are constructed of concrete, the most
notable being the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. In recent years construction has commenced on
a nationwide system of multi-lane highways, including the Golden Quadrilateral and North-
South and East-West Corridors which link the largest cities in India. In 2000, around 40% of
villages in India lacked access to all-weather roads and remained isolated during the monsoon
season.
[1][108]

To improve rural connectivity, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Prime Minister's Rural
Road Program), a project funded by the Central Government with the help of World Bank,
was launched in 2000 to build all-weather roads to connect all habitations with a population
of 500 or above (250 or above for hilly areas).
[108][109]

As per 2013 estimates, the total road length in India is 4,689,842 km (2,914,133 mi);
[110]

making the Indian road network the second largest road network in the world after the United
States. At 0.66 km of highway per square kilometre of land the density of Indias highway
network is higher than that of the United States (0.65) and far higher than that of China's
(0.16) or Brazil's (0.20).
[1]

Type of Road Length
Expressways 1,208 km (751 mi) as of 2011
National Highways 79,116 km (49,160 mi)
State Highways 155,716 km (96,757 mi)
District, Rural and Other Roads 4,455,010 km (2,768,210 mi)
Total Length 4,689,842 km (2,914,133 mi) (Approx)
Buses are an important means of public transport in India, particularly in the countryside and
remote areas where the rail network cannot be accessed and airline operations are few or non-
existent. Due to this social significance, public bus transport is predominantly owned and
operated by public agencies, and most state governments operate bus services through a State
Road Transport Corporation.
[111]
These corporations, introduced in the 1960s and 1970s, have
proven extremely useful in connecting villages and towns across the country.
[30]

Aviation


Air India, the flag carrier of India
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the national regulatory body for the aviation
industry. It is controlled by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The ministry also controls aviation
related autonomous organizations like the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Bureau of Civil
Aviation Security (BCAS), Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi and Public Sector
Undertakings including Air India, Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited and Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited.
[112]

Air India is India's national flag carrier after merging with Indian in 2011
[113]
and plays a
major role in connecting India with the rest of the world.
[114]
IndiGo, Jet Airways, Air India,
Spicejet and GoAir are the major carriers in order of their market share.
[115]
These airlines
connect more than 80 cities across India and also operate overseas routes after the
liberalization of Indian aviation. Several other foreign airlines connect Indian cities with
other major cities across the globe. However, a large section of country's air transport
potential remains untapped, even though the Mumbai-Delhi air corridor was ranked 10th by
Amadeus in 2012 among the world's busiest routes.
[116][117]



Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi is India's busiest airport in terms of passenger
traffic
History
Air India placed orders for more than 68 jets from Boeing for US$7.5 billion in 2006 while
Indian placed orders for 43 jets from Airbus for US$2.5 billion in 2005.
[118][119]
Jet Airways
invested millions of dollars to increase its fleet,
[120]
but was later put on hold due to the recent
economic slowdown.
[121]
IndiGo announced orders for 100 Airbus A320s worth US$6 billion
during the Paris Air Show, the highest by any Asian domestic carrier.
[122]
Kingfisher Airlines
became the first Indian air carrier on 15 June 2005 to order Airbus A380 aircraft worth US$3
billion.
[123][124]

More than half a dozen low-cost carriers entered the Indian market in 2004-05. Major new
entrants included Air Deccan, Air Sahara, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, GoAir, Paramount
Airways and IndiGo. But Indian aviation industry struggled due to economic slowdown,
rising fuel and operation costs. This led to consolidation, buy outs and discontinuations in the
Indian airline industry. In 2007, Air Sahara and Air Deccan were acquired by Jet Airways
and Kingfisher Airlines respectively. Paramount Airways ceased operations in 2010 and
Kingfisher Airlines shut down in 2012. Etihad Airways agreed to acquire 24% stake in Jet in
2013. AirAsia India is a proposed low cost carrier scheduled to operate as a joint venture
between Air Asia and Tata Sons. As of 2012-13, IndiGo is the only Indian carrier generating
profits.
Airports


Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai is India's second busiest in terms of
passenger traffic
Main article: List of airports in India
As of 2013, there are 346
[125]
civilian airports in India - 253 with paved runways and 93 with
unpaved runways. Of these, 66 are licensed by the DGCA in the public use category while 21
are licensed for private use.
[126]
Most of these are managed by the AAI while the rest are
owned by State Governments and private entities. There are more than 20 international
airports in India. Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi and Chhatrapati Shivaji
International Airport, Mumbai handle more than a half of the air traffic in the
country.
[127][128][129]

The operations of the major airports in India have been privatised over the past 5 years and
this has resulted in better equipped and cleaner airports. The terminals have either been
refurbished or expanded.
Length of runways
Airports
with paved
runways
[125]

Airports
with unpaved
runways
[125]

3,047 m (10,000 ft) or more 21 1
2,438 to 3,047 m (8,000 to 10,000 ft) 59 3
1,524 to 2,438 m (5,000 to 8,000 ft) 76 6
914 to 1,524 m (3,000 to 5,000 ft) 82 38
Under 914 m (3,000 ft) 14 45
Total 253 93
Heliports
As of 2013, there are 45 heliports in India.
[125]
India also has the world's highest helipad at the
Siachen Glacier a height of 6400 metre (21,000 ft) above mean sea level.
[130]

Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited is a public sector company that provides helicopter services
to ONGC to its off-shore locations, and also to various State Governments in India,
particularly in North-east India.
[131]

Ports and shipping
Main articles: Shipping Corporation of India and Ports in India


Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai ranks 25th in the world as per container
traffic.
[132]

There are many major ports in India. Maritime transportation in India is managed by the
Shipping Corporation of India, a government-owned company that also manages offshore and
other marine transport infrastructure in the country. It owns and operates about 35% of Indian
tonnage and operates in practically all areas of shipping business servicing both national and
international trades.
[133]



Kochi seaport
It has a fleet of 79 ships of 2750,000 GT (4.8 million DWT) and also manages 53 research,
survey and support vessels of 120,000 GT (060,000 DWT) on behalf of various government
departments and other organisations.
[134]
Personnel are trained at the Maritime Training
Institute in Mumbai, a branch of the World Maritime University, which was set up in
1987.
[135]
The Corporation also operates in Malta and Iran through joint ventures.
[134]



Visakhapatnam seaport is one of the busiest ports on the East Coast of India
The ports are the main centres of trade. In India about 95% of the foreign trade by quantity
and 70% by value takes place through the ports.
[136]
Mumbai Port & JNPT(Navi Mumbai)
handles 70% of maritime trade in India.
[137]
There are twelve major ports: Navi Mumbai,
Mumbai, Kochi, Kolkata (including Haldia), Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Ennore, Chennai,
Tuticorin, New Mangalore, Mormugao and Kandla.
[138]
Other than these, there are 187 minor
and intermediate ports, 43 of which handle cargo.
[138]

The distinction between major and minor ports is not based on the amount of cargo handled.
The major ports are managed by port trusts which are regulated by the central
government.
[citation needed]
They come under the purview of the Major Port Trusts Act,
1963.
[citation needed]
The minor ports are regulated by the respective state governments and many
of these ports are private ports or captive ports.
[citation needed]
The total amount of traffic
handled at the major ports in 2005-2006 was 382.33 Mt.
[138]

Waterways


Motor Vessel in Hooghly river in West Bengal
Main article: Inland Waterways Authority of India
India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters
and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 kilometers (9,000 mi), out of which about
5,200 km (3,231 mi) of river and 485 km (301 mi) of canals can be used by mechanised
crafts.
[139]
Freight transport by waterways is highly underutilised in India compared to other
large countries. The total cargo moved by inland waterways is just 0.15% of the total inland
traffic in India, compared to the corresponding figures of 20% for Germany and 32% for
Bangladesh.
[140]

Cargo that is transported in an organised manner is confined to a few waterways in Goa,
West Bengal, Assam and Kerala.
[citation needed]
The Inland Waterways Authority of India
(IWAI) is the statutory authority in charge of the waterways in India. It does the function of
building the necessary infrastructure in these waterways, surveying the economic feasibility
of new projects and also administration and regulation.
[citation needed]
The following waterways
have been declared as National Waterways:


Boats sailing on National Waterway 2 at Guwahati
National Waterway 1: AllahabadHaldia stretch of the Ganga - Bhagirathi - Hooghly
river system with a total length of 1,620 kilometers (1,010 mi) in October 1986.
[141]

National Waterway 2: SaidiyaDhubri stretch of the Brahmaputra river system with a
total length of 891 kilometers (554 mi) in 1988.
[141]

National Waterway 3: KollamKottapuram stretch of the West Coast Canal along
with Champakara and Udyogmandal canals, with a total length of 205 kilometers
(127 mi) in 1993.
[141]

National Waterway 4: BhadrachalamRajahmundry and WazirabadVijaywada
stretch of the KrishnaGodavari river system along with the KakinadaPondicherry
canal network, with a total length of 1,095 km (680 mi) in 2007.
[142][143]

National Waterway 5: MangalgadiParadeep and TalcherDhamara stretch of the
MahanadiBrahmani river system along with the East Coast Canal, with a total length
of 623 km (387 mi) in 2007.
[142][143]

Pipelines
Length of pipelines for crude oil is 20,000 km (12,427 mi).
Length of Petroleum products pipeline is 15,000 km (9,321 mi).
Length of Natural gas pipelines is 1,700 km (1,056 mi).
The above information was calculated in 2008.
[125]

Environmental issues and impact


Buses on the Delhi BRTS. Delhi was one of the first cities in the World to introduce CNG
powered buses
The National capital New Delhi has one of the largest CNG based transport systems as a part
of the drive to bring down pollution. In spite of these efforts it remains the largest contributor
to the greenhouse gas emissions in the city.
[144]
The CNG Bus manufacturers in India are
Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Swaraj Mazda and Hindustan Motors.
[145]

In 1998, the Supreme Court of India published a Directive that specified the date of April
2001 as deadline to replace or convert all buses, three-wheelers and taxis in Delhi to
compressed natural gas.
[146]

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation was the first State Transport Undertaking in
India to utilise bio-fuels and ethanol-blended fuels.
[147]
KSRTC took an initiative to do
research in alternative fuel forms by experimenting with various alternatives blending
diesel with biofuels such as honge, palm, sunflower, groundnut, coconut and sesame.
[148]
In
2009, the corporation decided to promote the use of biofuel buses.
[149]