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Chapter: 11th 12th std standard Geography earth space Higher secondary school College Notes

Transport Types and Classification : Road, Train, Sea, Air

Transport may be divided into three essential types. They are: passenger transport, commodity or cargo transport and information exchange. Passenger Transport: People travel between places in accordance with their needs. Travel distance, time and mode change in tune with the demand. Particularly, a large number of people use the roads and railways commensurate with their needs.

Transport Types

 

Transport may be divided into three essential types. They are: passenger transport, commodity or cargo transport and information exchange.

 

Passenger Transport: People travel between places in accordance with their needs. Travel distance, time and mode change in tune with the demand. Particularly, a large number of people use the roads and railways commensurate with their needs.


Road Travel: Transport developments occur towards meeting their demand for travel on a day to day basis. To avoid heavy traffic, multiway transport, ring roads, expressways and freeways have been constructed. In places such as Madras, multi level routes have been laid to avoid traffic jams. Flyovers have been constructed to reach one level from another. Anna (Gemini) Flyover at Chennai is an example. There are such flyovers in cities like Tirunelveli, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu. Besides these, there are ring roads around most cities, alternate routes and bypasses in all of them. 'Hundred Feet Roads' are a concept being implemented too. There are immense road (automobile) transport networks in countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France.

 

The most important motorway in the United Kingdom is M25. This is laid around the city of London. With this, the centre of London which has heavy traffic all the time is avoided. It is estimated that travel time decreases by about 60 per cent for certain vital locations in London, primarily due to M25. This route connects the three important airports in the United Kingdom (Heathrow, Gadwick and Standstead). Likewise, there are several expressways connecting the European countries. Particularly, along the border between Italy and France, a tunnel for 15 km has been made to facilitate road transport.

 

Train Travel: Like the roads, the railways play a vital role in passenger transport. The railways have fast passenger and high speed trains, catering to the needs of the people. There are special and permanent trains, which are faster, between some towns or cities. The Vaigai and the Pandian Expresses between Chennai and Madurai and the Satabhthi between Chennai and Mysore are examples of fast and comfortable trains between these cities. There are some trains which operate between 36 and 50 hours and thus are long distance trains. The trains from Chennai to Mumbai and Chennai to Delhi are those that belong to this category.

 

The recent development in the rail traffic is the opening of the 'sea tunnel ways'. The best example is the one between London and Paris beneath the English Channel, running for 40 km. This tunnel way, in fact, functions in three tunnels and not just one. In one, the trains are run at 300 km/hour while in the second there is the transport of vehicles crossing the channel. The third is the service tunnel for both. This rail transport began in 1994. This 'beneath the sea rail transport' is also an example of human ingenuity and technology. In the cities and mega cities, the railways offer yeomen services to the people. Metro rail transports are either trams services or electrical locomotive units. Trams are still in vogue in Kolkata. They are operating in cities like Toronto of Canada, too. They supplement the road transport. In most cities of India, the suburban railways connect the city centres with the suburban areas. In Chennai alone, the suburban trains carry as many as 2 million passengers a day. It is estimated that in a few years it would touch 3 million.

 

Air Travel: To travel long distances in short travel times, aircrafts are used. There are planes which could travel at the speed of 6,000 km per hour. There are 'air buses' and 'jumbo jets' which are carriers of a large number of people. They are ushered into certain special services for their versatility. They are being used in the transport of armies and medical supplies and experts to distant areas. They are useful in any kind of landscapes.

 

The airline traffic connects areas inaccessible to land (road and rail) transport. Aircrafts help in reaching such areas as the Amazon forests and the distant islands of Andamans and Nicobar. The very heavy air traffic in the world is that between the city of New York and Los Angeles. There is also heavy passenger traffic in the route of New York London Paris. In the same way, there is heavy passenger traffic between India and the Gulf countries, Singapore and Malaysia.

 

In recent times, there has been a change in the way people travel by air, with the introduction of cheap air travel. While there has been a competition among the international airlines, it has also resulted in prices being cut drastically by some airlines to improve their performance. Some new airlines have sprung up offering 'rock bottom' prices for air travel, while slashing down on services, which now need to be bought. The new, cheap airlines do not for example hospitality services as part of the ticket fare but rather demand such services be paid for by the passengers making the travel by airlines.

 

Sea Travel: Some years in the past, there was little sea traffic. Yet, the long distance travel had to be done only through the sea. Only after the advent of the air traffic as a result of technological development along the way, the sea traffic of passengers has come down drastically. There are still some sea traffic, for recreation and relaxation by the rich individuals.

 

The ships involved in sea traffic have their importance determined by their volume and the structures. They are in effect floating hotels. There are swimming pools, dance halls and special rooms with high amenities and services. While there are ships that could carry as many as 2,000 passengers, there are also ferries and boats/yachts which could carry only a few passengers. Ships that travel at a speed of 50 km/hour to 100 km/hour are in use. As of today, most sea travel is for recreation and tourism. In North America and the island rich European continent, sea travel accounts still for large bulk of the passenger traffic. Otherwise, only the freight traffic and the cargo carriers are the most important of the sea traffic.


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