Indian Transport System

• To solve the problems in Transport sector the financial resources required are estimated to be Rs. 2,00,00,00,00,000.
• About 25% of total railway route length, 80% of equipment in railway workshops, 80% of buses operated by the SRTUs, 50% of shipping tonnage and 33% of aircraft of government airlines need to be replaced sooner or later as they have become over-aged or obsolete!
• In 1950-51, the road transport accounted for 11% of freight traffic; 26% of passenger traffic…Today freight traffic by road is 60% while 80% people prefer to travel by road.
• Indian Railways
• Railway began way back in 1853 when first train traveled from Bombay to Thane (22 km). Originally Railways were operated by private companies owned by Englishmen. Now Railway is country’s biggest nationalized enterprise.
• Indian Railways: Capital base- Rs. 55,000 crores; locomotives (diesel 4,770+ electric 3000)- 7,815; Passenger Coaches- 45,800; Wagons- 2,54,000; Staff- 1.6 million; Passengers traveling- 5,110 millions.
• From 1950-51 to 2003-04, Railways Route length increased only from 5,36,00,000 km to 6,32,20,000 km. While Road length increased from merely 4,00,000 km to 24,83,000 km.
• Indian Railway 2005-06: Total Earnings- 52,060 crores; Total expenses- 46,140 crores; Net Earnings- 5,920 crores; Dividend to General Revenue- 3,940 crores; thus total surplus- 1980 crores.
• Indian Roads
• In 2000, no. of registered vehicles on road was over 4.8 crores; No. of buses- 5,59,000; No. of trucks- 27 lakh.
• About 36% of the villages in India do not have road connections.
• About 65% of villages are without an all-weather roads.
• Only 50% of the road length in the country is provided with a proper surface.
• Even in case of National Highways, 30% of road length has a single lane road pavement.
• Cost of removing all deficiencies in National Highways is estimated at Rs. 16,44,35,00,00,000!
• The Golden Quadrilateral (5,846km) connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata + 7,300 km of North-South, East-West corridors (linking Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Porbandar). Investment: Rs. 54,000 crores.
• 40% of bus services are nationalized.
• There are currently 60 State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs); buses- 1 lakh; investment- Rs. 5,000 crore; direct employment- 15 lakh; passengers every day- 4.5 crores. Overall performance of all SRTUs- Rs. 2,500 crores of LOSS.
• Nearly 60% of the passenger traffic & the whole of goods traffic is in the hands of private operators.
• Water Transport in India
• Practically no investment; labour intensive; but hasn’t developed.
• Fright traffic through Water transport is about 17 million tonnes, which is only about 0.15% of domestic transportation.
• Out of 25 lakhs tonnes of traffic between Assam & Kolkata, 50% is through river transport.
• Indian Shipping
• Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) is 7 million.
• Indian Shipping accounts for only 1% of total world fleet.
• There are 66 shipping companies- 16 engaged exclusively in coastal trade; 43 in the overseas trade & 7 in both.
• India has 4 major ship-building yards (Vishakhapatanam, Kolkata, Mumbai & Cochin).
• There are 2 major public sector ship building yards- Hindustan Shipyards Ltd and Cochin Shipyards Ltd.
• At present Indian ships carry only 29% of India’s total seaborne trade.
• There are 12 major ports (which handle 75% of total traffic) + 185 minor ports.
• Largest port in the World is Hong Kong, which processes 20.1 million TEUs (20-feet equivalent units). India’s largest container port handles about 2.3 million TEUs.
• Civil Aviation in India
• Civil Aviation Department was set up in 1927.
• Air Service providers- Air India, Indian Airlines, Vayudoot
• Infrastructure providers- International Airports Authority of India (IAAI); Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
• Passengers Carried- Domestic: 1,39,35,000; International: 41,72,000