TRANSPORT STD X

 GEOGRAPHY

 TRANSPORT STD X
1) Name several means of transport of India.
 Ans The present transport system of India comprises of several means of transport including
Roadways, Railways, Airways and Waterways.
 2) Name the most significant means of transport in India.
 Ans Roadways.
 ROADWAYS
1)State the significance of Roadways in India OR Why are Roadways gaining more importance that
many other means of transport?
Ans The following are the reasons for the gaining significance of roadways:
Cost: Roads are cheaper than all other modes of transport on land i.e. railways and
airways.
Easier Construction: Railways can be easily constructed along hilly terrain, rugged surfaces,
remote areas, steep slopes etc. where other forms of transport would be
difficult to construct.
Door to Door Service: Only Roadways provide door-to-door services, thus making transportation
very convenient.
Faster means of transport: Roads are a faster means especially for perishable
products
like fruits, vegetables, milk etc. that are to be transported.
Feeders: Roads act as feeders i.e. railways depend on roads for distribution and
collection of (books) goods they carry.
2) List the drawbacks of roadways.
Ans The following are the drawbacks of roadways:
Heavy Commodities like coal and iron cannot be transported easily by roads.
Traffic lams: The rapid rise in number of vehicles
Higher maintenance costs as roads need regular mending.
Expensive: Its carrying capacity is much lower than railways. Thus is more expensive.
3) Name the various types of roads in India.
Ans Following are the various types of roads in India.
Expressways
National Highways and Golden Quadrilateral
State Highways
District roads
Village roads
International Highways
4) What are Expressways? Provide a few examples.
Ans Expressways are multi-lane well-paved highways used for movement of goods and traffic.
Some of the important Express highways are:
a) Mumbai - Kolkota - Dum Dum Airport Highway
b) Durgapur - Kolkota Express Highway
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c) Mumbai - Pune Express Highway
5) What are National Highways? Name the body responsible for its maintenance.
 Ans National Highways are long metalled roads that pass through several states connecting
important cities and towns.
They are maintained by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD)
6) Name the longest National Highway in India.
Ans Varanasi and Kanyakumari Highway
7) Name some ofthe places (cities) connected by the National Highways.
 Ans The main National Highways connects places like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai,
Kanyakumari and Leh.
8) Name the organization that undertakes the maintenance of the roads along the border areas.
Ans Border Roads Organisation (BRO) was established in 1960 for the development of roads of
strategic importance in border areas.
For e.g. i) the Zo i) the Zojila - Kargil and Manali Leh
ii) the Pathankot - Jammu - Srinagar
9) What step has the government undertaken to further develop the National Highways?
Ans In order to boost the trade and economic development of the country, the government has
undertaken National Highways Development Projects (NHDP).
10) a) Why was the Golden Quadrilateral launched ?
Ans It was launched in 1999, with the main purpose of reducing the time and distance between the
mega cities of India.
10) b) Name the organization that has undertaken this project.
Ans National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)
10) c) What does this project consist of?
Ans This project is one of the largest projects of road building in India and it comprises of 3
main phases:
Phase 1:
This phase comprises the connecting of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata by six-lane super
highways.
Phase 2:
The North South Corridor: It aims to connect the National Highways from Srinagar to
Kanyakumari.
The East West Corridor: This corridor aims to connect the National Highways from Silchar in
Assam to Porbandar in Gujarat.
Phase 3:
This phase comprises of the widening ofthe existing National Highways to 4/6 lanes
standard. It connects state capitals, seaports and the important places of tourist interest
with Quadrilateral.
11) What are State Highways?
 Ans State Highways are roads that link the State capitals with the important towns and trade
centres within the state. They are linked within the state.
 12) Name the authority responsible for the maintenance of State Highways.
 Ans The State Government maintains them through various agencies in the State and Union
Territories.
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13) What are District Roads?
District Roads form the main link between the villages and the main population centres in the
states. These roads connect the towns and large villages with one another and with the district
headquarters.
The construction and maintenance of these roads is the responsibility of the Zila Parishad and the
Public Works Department (PWD).
14) a. What are Village Roads?
Ans These roads link all the villages to a major town by a road motorable in all seasons.
b. Who maintains these roads?
Ans Village roads are constructed and maintained by Gram Panchayat.
c. When did these roads gain special significance?
Ans The village roads gained special significance under the Pradhamantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.
15) Name the two types of roads.
Ans The two types of roads are:
i)Metalled Roads:
Metalled roads are made of cement and concrete.
ii) Unmetalled Roads:
They are unpaved surface. They are motorable only during dry season.
16) a) What is BRO? Why was it established?
Ans The Border Roads Organization (BRO) was established in 1960, with a view to accelerate
economic development and strengthening defense preparedness through rapid and coordinated
expansion and improvement or road network in the North and Northern border
areas.
b) Pr
b)Pr b)Provide a few examples of the roads constructed by BRO.
Ans The roads constructed between
i)The Zojila - Kargil and Manali Leh
ii) The Pathankot - Jammu - Srinagar
 RAILWAYS
1) When and where was the first railway line laid in India?
Ans Ans. The railway system in India started in 1853, when the first railway line between Mumbai and
Thane was inaugurated
2)Name the three types of railway gauges.
-The Metre Gauge
- The Narrow Gauge
- The Broad Guage
3)During the last three decades, effort has been made to convert metre and narrow gauge
tracks to broad gauges. Explain why?
Ans The existence of different gauge is not very convenient.
Since passengers have to change trains and the goods too have to be transported to other( 4 )
trains.
4)When were these gauges designed?
Ans The gauges were designed by the colonial rulers, keeping in mind the volume of traffic and
movement of goods in different areas of the country.
5) Where is Broad gauge chiefly found?
Ans. It is in the most important part of the country.
It was mainly installed to connect the major parts with the other cities to facilitate the
export of raw material to Britain by ships.
6) Where is Metre Gauge chiefly used in India?
Ans Metre Gauge is mainly used in northern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and parts of Western
Rajasthan.
7) Name the areas associated with Narrow Gauge.
 Ans.Narrow Gauge is primarily used in the mountainous areas like Kalka-Shimla, Ooty and
Darjeeling.
8) Electrification of fall the railway tracks is undertaken. Explain why?
- Diesel engines and steam engines cause a considerable amount of pollution.
 -Hence to meet the growing pressure of traffic and goods, electrification of all the railway
 tracks was undertaken.
 -While electrification process, priority was given to the high density section of the railway lines to
enable greater speed and volume of traffic.
9)List the factors that influence the distribution pattern of railway network.
Ans.The factors that influence the distribution pattern of railway network are:
--The terrain, fertility of land and its aridity.
10)Name the centres that produce diesel locomotive.
---Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi (UP).
--- Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in West Bengal
--- Locomotive Works in Jamshedpur
11)Name the organization that manages the railway of India.
Ans The entire railway system is managed by the Railway Board.
12)Into how many zones are the Indian railways divided? Name the important zones.
Ans They are divided into 16 zones:
1)The Eastern Railway:
Headquarters: Kolkata
 ---It serves the densely populated eastern Gangetic Plains covering parts of Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and West Bengal.
 --It handles the largest volume of goods traffic of the Damodar Basin and the Hooghly
 Industrial region.
 ----Items / goods transported are coal, iron ore, manganese, mica and jute.
2)The North Eastern Railway:
Headquarters: Gorakhpur
--Serves the northern region of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
---Mainly transports agricultural products such as sugarcane, rice, tobacco, jute and tea

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3)The North Eastern Frontier Railway:
Headquarters: Guwahati
4)The South Eastern Railway:
Headquarters: Kolkata
---Connects Tatanagar, Haora, Nagpur, Waltair and Cuttack.
5)The Western Railway:
Headquarters: Mumbai
---. It serves the industrial areas of Greater Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Vadodara.
---It runs through Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
--- The Principle line runs from Mumbai to Delhi.
6)The Central Railways:
Headquarters: Mumbai
 ---It serves parts of Greater Mumbai and Pune Industrial, regions in Maharashtra and Tamil
Nadu.
 The important lines in the zone are:
 --The South Central Railways
 -- The Southern Railway.
13 a) Which places are connected by Konkan Railway.
Ans It connects Roha to Mangalooru.
b) List some of the important features of the Konkan railways.
-The Konkan Railways was the most difficult project taken up by the Indian Railways after
independence.
-It conn - It connects Roha in Maharashtra with Mangalooru in Karnataka, i.e. the missing link in the West
Coast Railway.
 ---The line fords 146 rivers and has 73 tunnels with the longest tunnel of 6.5 Km long it.
 --A separate organisation called the Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC) was set up to
construct this line.
14) State the advantages of railways or rail transport OR List the importance of railways to India:
---Railways serve as the principal mode of transport for both, freight and passengers. Railways
serve as the cheapest mode of transport for bulky products over long distances.
---They connect the hinterland to the seaports.
----They promote integration within the states and between them.
----It helps in the administration of the country and helps in safe guarding it. This is because it
enables easy movement of heavy defence equipment, troops, police and military within the
country.
---It for --It forms a major employment sector and it provides job opportunities directly and indirectly to
several lakhs of people.
---It connects the industrial regions to the agricultural areas and the markets.
---It is the quickest mode of transport within industrial centres such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata
etc. as it does not face the problems of traffic jams.
---Supe Superfast trains like Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express have facilitated the fast
movement of passengers.
---j- Co --Computerization in the field of ticketing has brought tremendous relief to the passengers
travelling by trains
15) List the problems faced by Indian Railways.
---The railways cannot deliver goods at the door-step, they have to be complimented by roads.
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---Indian Railways face tremendous pressure of traffic with increasing population, urbanization and
industrialization.
---j- Rao --Rail journey has become unsafe due to poor maintenance, frequent accidents due to human
errors, terrorist attacks, loots and robbery.
 ---Changing policies delay in implementing decisions and corruption has adversely affected the
efficiency of railways.
 -- Obsolete machinery, tracks and equipments are cause of major accidents.
 --Electrification of railways has resulted in heavy increase in consumption of electricity and
increased tariff rates. Railways also consume a lot of diesel, which leads to air pollution.
-Majori --Majority of the employees working for the railways are unskilled which further reduces the
efficiency of the Indian Railways.
 AIRWAYS
1) Name the regulatory body in the field of civil aviation India.
Ans Ans. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the principal regulatory body in the field of
aviation in India.
2)List the functions of DGCA.
The DGCA is responsible for:
Plannin --Planning, expansion and implementation of schemes for an orderly growth of civil air transport.
--Licensing of pilots, aircrafts maintenance, engineers and monitoring of flight crew standards.
- Safeguarding civil aviation operation, regulation of air transport services and providing the
airport facilities to the passengers.
3) When was the Air transport nationalized?
Ans Air transport was nationalized in 1953.
4) Name the body that maintains the operation of the airports in India.
Ans Airports Authority of India (AAI).
5) Name and explain the various categories of Airports in India.
Ans The airports in India can be classified as:
a) International Airports:
- These --These airports are available for scheduled international operations by Indian and foreign carriers.
-International services was initially allowed to be operated only by Air-India.
-Some of the international airports are Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai etc.
b) Domestic Airports:
-Thes --These are airports with limited international operations. They primarily deal with operations
within the country.
c) Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd.
-This ha --This has been providing helicopter support services to the petroleum sector, including ONGC
and Oils India Ltd.
-It has been providing services to certain stare governments and public undertakings.
6) State the importance of Air transport.
-Airways are the fastest mode of transport.
--It is the most appropriate mode especially during emergencies, was, calamities like
epidemics, earthquakes and floods etc.
---It is essenti --It is essential along the hilly areas and the borders, as they are not affected much by the physical ( 8 )
navigable
and carry the largest part of the river traffic.
 The Ganga is navigable for about 800 km from its mouth to Patna.
 The Bramhaputra is navigable almost throughout the year.
6) Name the rivers/canals of Peninsular India that are navigable.
Ans. The following rivers are navigable in peninsular India:
 Rivers Krishna and Godavari are the chief means of transport in Peninsular India.
 The Buckingham Canal in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu is used for navigation.
 The Mandovi River in Goa are also used as waterways.
 Along the western coast in Kerala, the backwaters serve as a means of navigation and as a
means to transport the goods like spices, coconuts, raw rubber etc.
7) Inland navigation is not well developed in Peninsular India. Explain Why?
Ans. Inland navigation in Peninsular India is not as well developed as in the Northern parts
of India because:
 Most of the Peninsular Rivers are seasonal.
 The volume of water in these rivers also fluctuates.
8) In the recent times Inland water transport has lost its significance. Justify
Ans. The inland waterways have the following drawbacks that have led to the decline of its usage:
 With the expansion of the roads and railways the traffic along the inland waterways has
reduced as the roads and railways are faster and more comfortable.
 The seasonal variation in the water level also affects the length and the navigability of the
waterways. Thus making it unreliable.
9) Coastal Shipping is one of the most important aspects of Indian transport network. Explain
Why?
 It is economical, fuel saving and environmental friendly.
 It is energy efficient and the cheapest mode of transport.
 Coastal fisheries, tourism and other industries are dependent on it.
 Coastal shipping reduces the burden on the road and rail transport.
 It provides employment to thousands of people.
 The capital investment here is much lesser than other modes of transport.
10)List some of the problems faced by the Indian ports.
Ans.The Indian ports face the following problems.
 The are not well connected with their hinterland.
 They lack planning, thus they are congested and lack facilities.
 There is an imbalance in coastal traffic movement as traffic is not equally available
in both directions and this makes it necessary for the ship to take a return journey
without any goods and thus increasing the cost.
 Slow handling of the cargo and undue port delays inflict heavy losses on the
shipping companies
 Ships and tankers on meeting with an accident lead to oil slicks, which not only
harms the environment but also takes several years to be cleared.
Ships are also the target of pirates, cyclones, ice-berg etc. which lead to tremendous
losses.
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