Indian Geo; Transportation in India

Transportation.
- Railways.
  - India’s rail network is the fourth largest in the world. (USA > Russia > China > India)
  - Indian railways operate in three different gauges – Broad guage (1.676 m), Meter guage (1.000 m) and the narrow guage (0.761 m and 0.610 m).
  - First public traffic train ran in 1853; from Bombay to Thane (34 Km).
  - First electric train was the “Deccan Queen”, in 1929 from Bombay to Poona.
  - Few well known trains are –
    - Vivek express.
      - It is the longest train route in India, and eighth in the world.
      - Runs from Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari (4286 Km).
    - Himsagar express.
      - It is the second longest train route in the country.
      - Runs from Jammu tavi and Kanyakumari (3726 Km).
    - Shree shakti express.
      - Becomes operational on 14/07/2014.
  - Metro services along the country and there start dates are as follows –
    - Kolkata metro – 24^th October, 1984.
    - Chennai metro – 1^st November, 1995.
    - Delhi metro – 24^th December, 2002.
    - Namma metro – 20^th October, 2011.
    - Rapid metro rail Gurgaon – 14^th November, 2013.
    - Mumbai metro – 8^th June, 2014.
  - Mumbai monorail started in 2^nd February, 2014.
- Roadways.
  - In 1943, Nagpur plan was adopted. According to which the roadways was to be developed as –
    - National highways.
    - State highways.
    - District roads.
    - And the village roads.
  - Our road network is the third largest in the world.
  - Few national highways are as follows –
    - NH 7 – is the longest, extends from Varanasi to Kanyakumari (2369 Km).
    - NH 47A – is the shortest highway (6 Km).
    - NH 5 – runs along the eastern coast.
    - NH 17 – runs along the western coast.
    - NH 15 – is the border road in the Rajasthan desert (1526 Km).
  - National highway development programme consists of the following projects –
    - The Golden quadrilateral project.(5846 Km)
      - NH 2 – Delhi to Kolkata (1453 Km).
      - NH 8, NH 76 and NH 79 – Delhi to Mumbai (1419 Km).
      - NH 4, NH 7 and NH 46 – Mumbai to Chennai (1290 Km).
      - NH 5, NH 6 and NH 60 – Chennai to Kolkata (1648 Km).
      - Total length is of 5846 Km.
      - Its greatest length share is in A.P (1016 Km), followed by U.P (753 Km).
    - North-South and East-West corridors. (7300 Km)
      - N-S corridor extends from Srinagar to Kanyakumari.
      - E-W corridor extends from Porbandar to Silchar.
      - They will intersect at the Jhansi, U.P.
      - Its highest length share is of Tamilnadu (856 Km), followed by U.P (851 Km).
    - Up-gradation. (12109 Km)
      - National highways with 4 lanes on the BOT basis will be developed.
- Airways.
  - In 1931, country’s first solo flight was registered by Mr. J R D Tata.
  - First flight of the Tata airlines was in 1935 and it was from Mumbai to Thiruananthapuram.
  - In 1937, first flight from Mumbai to Delhi was registered.
  - In 1953, Indian airlines and Air India was founded.
  - In 1995, Airport authority of India was formed.
- Waterways.
  - The waterways authority of India divides ports into –
    - Major ports. (13)
    - Intermediate port.
    - And the minor ports.
  - There are total 190 ports in our country.
  - Kolkata has the oldest port of our country.
  - Largest container port – Jawaharlal Nehru port (Mumbai).
  - Largest natural port – Vishakhapatnam.
  - Kandla (Gujarat), is a tidal port – comes under free trade zone.
  - Gateway of Karnataka – New Mangalore port.
  - Busiest port – Mumbai port.
  - Some national waterways are as follows –
    - NW 1 – Allahabad to Haldia (1629 Km), is along the river Ganga.
    - NW 2 – Sadhiya to Dhubri (819 Km), is along the Brahmaputra.