The essentials
India has one of the largest road networks in the world. The Grand Trunk Road built by Sher Shah Suri linked the Indus valley with the Sonar valley of Bengal. Roads in India are classified as National Highways (built and maintained by the central government; the National Highways Authority of India was operationalised in 1995), State Highways, District Roads, Rural Roads (boosted by the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana), Border Roads (built by the Border Roads Organisation, set up in 1960) and other roads.
Major highway projects include the Golden Quadrilateral linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, the North–South Corridor (Srinagar to Kanyakumari) and the East–West Corridor (Silchar to Porbandar).
Key points
- Railways: the first train ran in 1853 from Bombay to Thane, a distance of about 34 km. Gauges: broad gauge (1.676 m), metre gauge (1 m), narrow gauge (0.762 m and 0.610 m).
- Konkan Railway (completed 1998): about 760 km from Roha in Maharashtra to Mangaluru in Karnataka, through Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka; a feat of engineering crossing many rivers and tunnels through the Western Ghats.
- National Waterway 1: Ganga between Haldia and Prayagraj (Allahabad). National Waterway 2: Brahmaputra between Sadiya and Dhubri. National Waterway 3: West Coast Canal in Kerala between Kottapuram and Kollam, with the Udyogamandal and Champakkara canals.
- Air transport: began in 1911 with airmail between Allahabad and Naini; air transport was nationalised in 1953. Pawan Hans provides helicopter services, especially for hilly areas and the oil sector.
- Pipelines: Oil India Limited built a pipeline from the Naharkatia oilfield in Assam to the Barauni refinery in Bihar via Nunmati (Guwahati). Another major pipeline runs from Salaya in Gujarat towards Jalandhar via Viramgam, Mathura and Delhi. GAIL's HVJ gas pipeline links Hazira (Gujarat), Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) and Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh).
Exam tips
End points of corridors and national waterways are frequent questions. Remember the HVJ expansion: Hazira–Vijaipur–Jagdishpur.
Common mistakes
The East–West Corridor runs from Silchar in Assam to Porbandar in Gujarat, not from Kolkata to Mumbai.