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Indian Economic Policy
Notes Table 7 : Growth of the Transport System
1950-51 1970-71 2005-06 2009-10
1. Railways : Route length (‘000 km) 53,600 59,800 63,300 64000
Freight Traffic originating 93 196 680 888
(million tonnes)
2. Roads : Total length (‘000 km) 400 915 2,713* 4,236**
Surfaced 160 400 1,510* 2,090**
No. of goods vehicles (‘000) 82 343 4,782 NA
3. Shipping : Overseas shipping (million tonnes GRT) 0.2 2.2 7.0 9.7
ports traffic in m. tonnes 19 – 424 562.7
4. Civil Aviation : Number of passengers (lakhs) – 26 318 569
Source : Tenth Five Year Plan, 1997-2002, Vol. II. and Economic Survey, 2009-2010, Tables S-27 etc.
Ministry of Shipping Annual Report 2009-10. N.A-Not Available
* For the year 2003-04 ** For 2007-08
(b) Poor planning of transport system : In the formulation of transport plans, sufficient attention
was not given to spatial and economic features which influence the pattern of transport demand
in the country. For instance, population and economic activities tend to concentrate in major
cities and towns. Massive volumes of traffic are concentrated in certain regions of the country
and hence there is tremendous pressure on rail and road transport systems in the cities and
certain regions. Alternative routes should be developed or there should be balanced development
of regions.
There is bound to be substantial build up of transport demand in the years to come. Such increase
in transport demand cannot be met always by expansion in transport services. Careful transport
planning should include greater dispersal of industries, balanced regional development,
generation of thermal power, development of other sources of energy, etc.
Another aspect of poor transport planning is that in the urban areas, lack of adequate mass
transport, complete absence of demand management and policy distortions in the areas of fuel
pricing and bank finance have resulted in an explosion of personalised transport comprising
mainly of scooters and cars. This has contributed to high levels of pollution and alarming rates
of accidents. On the other side, a large number of villages lack a reliable all-weather transport
connection with nearby markets and towns.
Yet another aspect of poor transport planning in India is that North East and Jammu & Kashmir
have not been adequately linked with the rest of the country and as a result, they have remained
physically and emotionally isolated.
Finally, certain environment-friendly and socially cost effective means of transport like coastal
shipping, inland water transport and non-mechanised transport have remained largely
underdeveloped.
(c) Rail-road coordination : Rail and road transport are the dominant modes of transport in the
country and they would continue to be so in the future too. However, the modal mix of transport
has been continually shifting against the railways. For instance, in 1950-51, the road transport
accounted for 11 per cent of the freight traffic and 26 per cent of the passenger traffic; but now, its
share had increased to 60 and 80 per cent respectively. This continuing shift in favour of the road
transport system is undesirable from economic as well as environment angles. A continuously
mounting energy import bill is one of the direct consequences. The Seventh Plan argues in this
connection : “Ideally, the Railways should have adequate capacity to clear all train and wagon
load traffic for long and medium loads particularly for bulk commodities while the road transport
would cater essentially for small lot, short haul traffic for which it is the more efficient mode.”
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