DIFFERENT MODES OF TRANSPORTATION

The modes of transport describe the way goods are transported. There are basically five different
modes;

● Rail
● Water
● Road
● Pipeline
● Air
● Multimodal

RAIL

for heavy and large loads over long land journeys

ADVANTAGES

● lowest overall cost per unit weight

● railway is the safest form of transport
● can be most effective when linked into multimodal system

DISADVANTAGES

● routes between fixed terminals

● they cannot stop at intermediate points
● rail transport cannot provide door to door service
ROAD

the most common mode of transport and it is used at least somewhere in almost all supply chains

ADVANTAGES
 ● main benefit: flexibility
● travel speed
● use extensive road networks
● large number of carries working in the same areas
● easy to monitor location of goods

DISADVANTAGES

● for shorter distances

● vulnerable to congestion and traffic delays
● dependence on fuel price

WATER

it is used for big volumes for international traffic

ADVANTAGES

● for heavy and bulky goods

● for products with long lead times
● cheaper traffic means
DISADVANTAGES

● difficulty in monitoring exact location

● limited to appropriate ports
● transfers to ships take time

AIR

urgent, perishable goods or high value are transported by air.

ADVANTAGES

● speed of delivery

DISADVANTAGES

● it is costly transport
● weight limits

PIPELINE

the main uses of pipelines are oil and gas together with the utilities of water and sewage

ADVANTAGES

● moving a large quantities over long distances

● cheapest way of moving liquids
● local networks can add flexibility
DISADVANTAGES

● being slow
● inflexible
● only carrying large volumes of certain types of fluid

MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT

refers to journeys that involve two or more different modes of transport

CHOICES OF MODES
The choice of mode depends on a variety of factors. The main ones are the nature of materials to
move, the volume and distance.

Characteristics of Road Transport

It is an accepted fact that of all the modes the transportation, road
transport is the nearest to the people. The passenger and the goods have
to be first transported by road before reaching a railway station or a port
or an airport. The road network alone could serve the remotest villages of
the vast country like ours.
The Characteristics of Road Transport are briefly listed here.
1. Roads are used various types of road vehicles, like passenger
cars, buses, trucks two and three wheeled automobiles, pedal cycles
and animal drawn vehicles. But railway tracks are used only by rail
locomotives and wagons, water ways are used by only ships and
boats
2. Road transport requires a relatively small investment for the
government. Motor vehicles are much cheaper than carriers like
rail locomotives and wagons, water and air carriers. and air
 carriers. Construction and maintenance of roads is also cheaper
than that of railway track, docks, harbours and airports.

3. Road transport completely offer an freedom to road users to

transfer the vehicles from one lane to another and to from one road
to another according to the need and convenience. This flexibility
of changes in location, direction, speed and timings of travel is not
available to other modes of transport.

4. In particular for short distance travel, road transport saves time.

Trains stop at junctions and main stations for comparatively longer
time.
5. Speed of movement is directly related with severity of accident.
The road Safety decreases with increase dispersion in speed. Road
Transport is subjected to high degree of accidents due to flexibility
of movements offered to the user. Derailment of railway
locomotives and air planes and air crashes are not uncommon. They
are in fact more disastrous.
6. Road transport is the only means of transport offer itself to the
whole community.

Importance of Roads:
1. Roads play a very important role in the transportation
of goods and passengers for short and medium
distances.

2. It is comparatively easy and cheap to construct and

maintain roads.
3. Road transport system establishes easy contact
between farms, fields, factories and markets and
provides door to door service.

4. Roads can negotiate high gradients and sharp turns

which railways cannot do. As such, roads can be
constructed in hilly areas also.
5. Roads act as great feaders to railways. Without good
and sufficient roads, railways cannot collect sufficient
produce to make their operation possible.

6. Road transport is more flexible than the railway

transport. Buses and trucks may be stopped anywhere
and at any time on the road for loading and unloading
passengers and goods whereas trains stop only at
particular stations.

7. Perishable commodities like vegetables, fruits and

milk are transported more easily and quickly by roads
than by railways.

Due to above-mentioned advantages, the road transport

has become very popular and its share is constantly
increasing.

Classification of Roads:
The main significance of the Nagpur Plan lies in the fact
that it classified roads into four categories on the
functional basis. They are: (i) National Highways (ii)
State Highways (iii) District Roads and (iv) Village
Roads. A brief description of each category is given as
under:

1. National Highways:
The main roads which are constructed and maintained
by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) are
known as the National Highways. These roads are meant
for inter-state and strategic defence movements and
connect the state capitals, big cities, important ports, big
railway junctions and link up with border roads. The
length of National Highways increased from 19,811 km in
1951 to 33,650 km in 1991 and 49,585 km in 1999.
Currently, the total length of the National Highways in
India is 65,569 kilometres. National Highways form the
lifeline of road transport and constitute the framework of
road system in India. Although the percentage share of
the National Highways to the total road length has
decreased considerably from 4.95 per cent in 1951 to only
1.96 per cent in 1999, they carry nearly 40 per cent of the
road traffic of India.
2. State Highways:
These are constructed and maintained by state
governments and join the state capitals with district
headquarters and other important towns. These roads
are also connected to the national highways. The length
of state roadways in India has more than doubled within
a span of about three decades and has increased from
56,765 km in 1971 to 1, 37,950 km in 1999. These roads
constitute 5.46 per cent of the total road length of India.
3. District Roadways:
These roads join the district headquarters with the other
places of the district. Development and maintenance of
these roads fall within the purview of Zila Parishads.
There has been more than four and half times increase in
the length of district roadways from 1, 73,723 km in 1951
to 8 01 ,655 km in 1999.

In 1999, these roads accounted for 31.74 per cent of the

total road length of India. Formerly most of the district
roads were unsurfaced and lacked bridges and culverts.
But now the situation as changed and most of these
roads are surfaced. Such a situation has improved
connectivity and pave way for economic development.
4. Village Roads:
The village roads are mainly the responsibility of village
panchayats and connect the villages with the
neighbouring towns and cities. These are generally dusty
tracks and are usable only during the lair weather. They
become muddy and unserviceable during the rainy
season.

Efforts have been made m the recent past to connect the

villages with metalled roads. The length of these roads
has increased by about 5 times from 2, 06,408 km in
1951 to 10, 28,410 km in 1999. These roads accounted for
over 40 per cent of the total road length of the country in
1999.

Transport in India roadways

Transport in India roadways is favored while covering
long and short distance. As of 2013, India has a
whopping network of road of about 2,914,133 mi
(4,689,842 km), which indicates the fact that road
transport is the most predominant mode of transport in
India. At 660 meters of roads per square kilometer of
solid ground, the quantitative compactness of our
country's network of road is much more eminent than
that of People's Republic of China and Federative
Republic of Brazil. The official records from the
Government of India indicates that as of 2011, about
25,30,000 kilometers of roads were completed.

Major road development projects are being carried out

under the National Highways Development Project, a
government initiative implemented in the year 1998.
Besides, highway operators and private entities are
carrying out many important road development projects.
For instance, the Yamuna Expressway - a six lane
(extendable to eight lanes), 102.52 miles (165 km) long,
expressway exclusively designed for high-speed vehicle
traffic, linking Greater Noida with Agra in the northern
state of Uttar Pradesh, was implemented by the Jaypee
Group of Noida.

At present, the Government of India is seeking to boost

investments from foreign countries in road projects.
Foreign involvement in the Indian road network
expansion has appealed to several international
contractors and engineering consultants, with Malaysia,
Republic of Korea, United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland and United States of America being the
most prominent participants.

Did you know?

India's extensive network of road holds over 65 % of its

cargo and about 85 % of vehicular traffic

India's massive network of road is administrated by

assorted government agencies. Find below the
information about the classification of roads in India and
their length and authority (Data as of 2011):

Expressways

Total Length of Expressways in India: 942 km (585.33

mi)

National Highways (NH)

Total Length of National Highways in India: 92,851 km
(57,694.93 mi)

Classification: Single, Intermediate, Double, Four, Six

and Eight Lane

Regulating Body: Ministry of Road Transport and

Highways, Government of India

State Highways (SH)

Total Length of State Highways in India: 1,63,898 km
(1,01,841.49 mi)

Regulating Body: State Governments, especially Public

Works Department of State Governments

Rural Roads

Total Length of Rural Roads in India: 27,49,805 km

(17,08,649.61 mi)

Regulating Body: Municipalities, Panchayats and other

Local Governing Bodies
Major and Other District Roads

Total Length of Major and Other District Roads in India:

17,05,706 (10,59,876.57 mi)

Regulating Body: Municipalities, Panchayats and other

Local Governing Bodies
Did you know?

Yamuna Expressway (connecting Greater Noida with

Agra) is the longest six-laned controlled-access
expressway stretch in India

Having said all the above information about the massive

road network of India, undoubtedly, road transport is the
most common mode of transport in the country. Another
substantial reason behind the unvanquishable popularity
of road transport in India is that among the numerous
urban centers of India, only Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad have commuter rail
services whereas more than 25 cities across the country
are operating city bus services.
Advantages and
Disadvantages of Road
Transport
Advantages:
1. Less Capital Outlay:
Road transport required much less capital Investment as
compared to other modes of transport such as railways
and air transport. The cost of constructing, operating and
maintaining roads is cheaper than that of the railways.
Roads are generally constructed by the government and
local authorities and only a small revenue is charged for
the use of roads.

2. Door to Door Service:

The outstanding advantage of road transport is that it
provides door to door or warehouse to warehouse
service. This reduces cartage, loading and unloading
expenses.

3. Service in Rural Areas:

Road transport is most suited for carrying goods and
people to and from rural areas which are not served by
rail, water or air transport. Exchange of goods, between
large towns and small villages is made possible only
through road transport.

4. Flexible Service:
Road transport has a great advantage over other modes
of transport for its flexible service, its routes and timings
can be adjusted and changed to individual requirements
without much inconvenience.

5. Suitable for Short Distance:

It is more economic and quicker for carrying goods and
people over short distances. Delays in transit of goods on
account of intermediate loading and handling are
avoided. Goods can be loaded direct into a road vehicle
and transported straight to their place of destination.

6. Lesser Risk of Damage in Transit:

As the intermediate loading and handling is avoided,
there is lesser risk of damage, breakage etc. of the goods
in transit. Thus, road transport is most suited for
transporting delicate goods like chinaware and
glassware, which are likely to be damaged in the process
of loading and unloading.

7. Saving in Packing Cost:

As compared to other modes of transport, the process of
packing in motor transport is less complicated. Goods
transported by motor transport require less packing or
no packing in several cases.

8. Rapid Speed:
If the goods are to be sent immediately or quickly, motor
transport is more suited than the railways or water
transport. Water transport is very slow. Also much time
is wasted in booking the goods and taking delivery of the
goods in case of railway and water transport.

9. Less Cost:
Road transport not only requires less initial capital
investment, the cost of operation and maintenance is
also comparatively less. Even if the rate charged by
motor transport is a little higher than that by the
railways, the actual effective cost of transporting goods
by motor transport is less. The actual cost is less because
the motor transport saves in packing costs and the
expenses of intermediate loading, unloading and
handling charges.

10. Private Owned Vehicles:

Another advantage of road transport is that big
businessmen can afford to have their own motor vehicles
and initiate their own road services to market their
products without causing any delay.

11. Feeder to other Modes of Transport: The movement of

goods begins and ultimately ends by making use of
roads. Road and motor transport act as a feeder to the
other modes of transport such as railways, ships and
airways.

Disadvantages:
In spite of various merits, road/motor has some serious
limitations:
1. Seasonal Nature:
Motor transport is not as reliable as rail transport.
During rainy or flood season, roads become unfit and
unsafe for use.
2. Accidents and Breakdowns:
There are more chances of accidents and breakdowns in
case of motor transport. Thus, motor transport is not as
safe as rail transport.

3. Unsuitable for Long Distance and Bulky Traffic:

This mode of transport is unsuitable and costly for
transporting cheap and bulky goods over long distances.
4. Slow Speed:
The speed of motor transport is comparatively slow and
limited.
5. Lack of Organisation:
The road transport is comparatively less organised. More
often, it is irregular and undependable. The rates
charged for transportation are also unstable and
unequal.
Scopes of highway and Traffic Engineering

Highway Engineering

Highway engineering is an engineering discipline branching from civil engineering that involves the
planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of roads, bridges, and tunnels to ensure safe
and effective transportation of people and goods.

Highway engineers must take into account future traffic flows, design of highway
intersections/interchanges, geometric alignment and design, highway pavement materials and design,
structural design of pavement thickness, and pavement maintenance.

Scope of Highway Engineering

Planning ang development

Highway planning involves the estimation of current and future traffic volumes on a road network. The
Highway planning is also a basic need for the Highway development. Highway engineers strive to predict
and analyze all possible civil impacts of highway systems. Some considerations are the adverse effects on
the environment, such as noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution, and other ecological impacts.

Financing

Developed countries are constantly faced with high maintenance cost of aging transportation highways.
The growth of the motor vehicle industry and accompanying economic growth has generated a demand
for safer, better performing, less congested highways. The growth of commerce, educational institutions,
housing, and defense have largely drawn from government budgets in the past, making the financing of
public highways a challenge.
The multipurpose characteristics of highways, economic environment, and the advances in highway
pricing technology are constantly changing. Therefore, the approaches to highway financing,
management, and maintenance are constantly changing as well.

Environmental impact assessment

The economic growth of a community is dependent upon highway development to enhance mobility.
However, improperly planned, designed, constructed, and maintained highways can disrupt the social
and economic characteristics of any size community. Common adverse impacts to highway development
include damage of habitat and bio-diversity, creation of air and water pollution, noise and vibration
generation, damage of natural landscape, and the destruction of a community's social and cultural
structure. Highway infrastructure must be constructed and maintained to high qualities and standards.
There are three key steps for integrating environmental considerations into the planning, scheduling,
construction, and maintenance of highways. This process is known as an Environmental Impact
Assessment, or EIA, as it systematically deals with the following elements:

- Identification of the full range of possible impacts on the natural and socio-economic environment

- Evaluation and quantification of these impacts

- Formulation of measures to avoid, mitigate, and compensate for the anticipated impacts.

Highway safety

Highway systems generate the highest price in human injury and death, as nearly 50 million persons are
injured in traffic accidents every year, not including the 1.2 million deaths.Road traffic injury is the single
leading cause of unintentional death in the first five decades of human life.

Management of safety is a systematic process that strives to reduce the occurrence and severity of traffic
accidents. The man/machine interaction with road traffic systems is unstable and poses a challenge to
highway safety management. The key for increasing the safety of highway systems is to design, build, and
maintain them to be far more tolerant of the average range of this man/machine interaction with
highways. Technological advancements in highway engineering have improved the design, construction,
and maintenance methods used over the years. These advancements have allowed for newer highway
safety innovations.

By ensuring that all situations and opportunities are identified, considered, and implemented as
appropriate, they can be evaluated in every phase of highway planning, design, construction,
maintenance, and operation to increase the safety of our highway systems.

DESIGN

The most appropriate location, alignment, and shape of a highway are selected during the design stage.
Highway design involves the consideration of three major factors (human, vehicular, and roadway) and
how these factors interact to provide a safe highway. Human factors include reaction time for braking
and steering, visual acuity for traffic signs and signals, and car-following behaviour. Vehicle
considerations include vehicle size and dynamics that are essential for determining lane width and
maximum slopes, and for the selection of design vehicles. Highway engineers design road geometry to
ensure stability of vehicles when negotiating curves and grades and to provide adequate sight distances
for undertaking passing maneuvers along curves on two-lane, two-way roads.

Geometric design

Highway and transportation engineers must meet many safety, service, and performance standards
when designing highways for certain site topography. Highway geometric design primarily refers to
the
visible elements of the highways. Highway engineers who design the geometry of highways must also
consider environmental and social effects of the design on the surrounding infrastructure.

There are certain considerations that must be properly addressed in the design process to successfully fit
a highway to a site's topography and maintain its safety. Some of these design considerations are:

Design speed

Design traffic volume

Number of lanes

Level of service (LOS)

Sight distance

Alignment, super-elevation, and grades

Cross section

Lane width

Structure gauge, Horizontal and vertical clearance

The operational performance of a highway can be seen through drivers' reactions to the design
considerations and their interaction.[9]

Materials

The materials used for roadway construction have progressed with time, dating back to the early days of
the Roman Empire. Advancements in methods with which these materials are characterized and applied
to pavement structural design has accompanied this advancement in materials.

There are three major types of pavement surfaces - pavement quality concrete (PQC), Portland cement
concrete (PCC) and hot-mix asphalt (HMA). Underneath this wearing course are material layers that give
structural support for the pavement system. These underlying surfaces may include either the aggregate
base and sub base layers, or treated base and sub base layers, and additionally the underlying natural or
treated sub grade. These treated layers may be cement-treated, asphalt-treated, or lime-treated for
additional support.
Highway construction

Highway construction is generally preceded by detailed surveys and subgrade preparation.[3] The
methods and technology for constructing highways has evolved over time and become
increasingly
sophisticated. This advancement in technology has raised the level of skill sets required to manage
highway construction projects. This skill varies from project to project, depending on factors such as the
project's complexity and nature, the contrasts between new construction and reconstruction, and
differences between urban region and rural region projects.

There are a number of elements of highway construction which can be broken up into technical and
commercial elements of the system.[18] Some examples of each are listed below:

Technical elements

Materials

Material quality

Installation techniques

Traffic

Commercial elements

Contract understanding

Environmental aspects

Political aspects

Legal aspects

Public concerns

Typically, construction begins at the lowest elevation of the site, regardless of the project type, and
moves upward. By reviewing the geotechnical specifications of the project, information is given about:

Existing ground conditions

Required equipment for excavation, grading, and material transportation to and from the site

Properties of materials to be excavated

Dewatering requirements necessary for below-grade work

Shoring requirements for excavation protection

Water quantities for compaction and dust control

Highway maintenance
The overall purpose of highway maintenance is to fix defects and preserve the pavement's structure and
serviceability. Defects must be defined, understood, and recorded in order to create an appropriate
maintenance plan. Maintenance planning is solving an optimisation problem and it can be predictive. In
predictive maintenance planning empirical, data-driven methods give more accurate results than
mechanical models.[20] Defects differ between flexible and rigid pavements.

There are four main objectives of highway maintenance:

repair of functional pavement defects

extend the functional and structural service life of the pavement

maintain road safety and signage

keep road reserve in acceptable condition

Through routine maintenance practices, highway systems and all of their components can be maintained
to their original, as-built condition.

Project management

Project management involves the organization and structuring of project activities from inception to
completion. Activities could be the construction of infrastructure such as highways and bridges or major
and minor maintenance activities related to constructing such infrastructure. The entire project and
involved activities must be handled in a professional manner and completed within deadlines and
budget. In addition, minimizing social and environmental impacts is essential to successful project
management.

Scope of traffic engineering

Traffic engineering is a branch of civil engineering that uses engineering techniques to achieve the safe
and efficient movement of people and goods on roadways. It focuses mainly on research for safe and
efficient traffic flow, such as road geometry, sidewalks and crosswalks, cycling infrastructure, traffic signs,
road surface markings and traffic lights. Traffic engineering deals with the functional part of
transportation system, except the infrastructures provided.
Traffic engineering is closely associated with other disciplines:
- Transport engineering

- Pavement engineering

- Bicycle transportation engineering

- Highway engineering

- Transportation planning

- Urban planning

- Human factors engineering

Typical traffic engineering projects involve designing traffic control device installations and modifications,
including traffic signals, signs, and pavement markings. Examples of Engineering Plans include pole
engineering analysis and Storm Water Prevention Programs (SWPP).[1] However, traffic engineers also
consider traffic safety by investigating locations with high crash rates and developing countermeasures to
reduce crashes. Traffic flow management can be short-term (preparing construction traffic control plans,
including detour plans for pedestrian and vehicular traffic) or long-term (estimating the impacts of
proposed commercial/residential developments on traffic patterns). Increasingly, traffic problems are
being addressed by developing systems for intelligent transportation systems, often in conjunction with
other engineering disciplines, such as computer engineering and electrical engineering.

Traffic Systems

Traditionally, road improvements have consisted mainly of building additional infrastructure. However,
dynamic elements are now being introduced into road traffic management. Dynamic elements have long
been used in rail transport. These include sensors to measure traffic flows and automatic,
interconnected, guidance systems to manage traffic (for example, traffic signs which open a lane in
different directions depending on the time of day). Also, traffic flow and speed sensors are used to
detect problems and alert operators, so that the cause of the congestion can be determined, and
measures can be taken to minimize delays. These systems are collectively called intelligent
transportation systems.

Highway safety

Highway safety engineering is a branch of traffic engineering that deals with reducing the frequency and
severity of crashes. It uses physics and vehicle dynamics, as well as road user psychology and human
factors engineering, to reduce the influence of factors that contribute to crashes. A well-drafted Traffic
Control Plan (TCP) is critical to any job involving roadway work. A properly-prepared TCP will specify
equipment, signage, placement, and personnel.

A typical traffic safety investigation follows these steps:

1. Identify and prioritize investigation locations. Locations are selected by looking for sites with higher
than average crash rates, and to address citizen complaints.

2. Gather data. This includes obtaining police reports of crashes, observing road user behavior, and
collecting information on traffic signs, road surface markings, traffic lights and road geometry.

3. Analyze data. Look for collisions patterns or road conditions that may be contributing to the problem.

4. Identify possible countermeasures to reduce the severity or frequency of crashes. • Evaluate

cost/benefit ratios of the alternatives

• Consider whether a proposed improvement will solve the problem, or cause "crash migration." For
example, preventing left turns at one intersection may eliminate left turn crashes at that location, only to
increase them a block away.

• Are any disadvantages of proposed improvements likely to be worse than the problem you are trying to
solve?

5. Implement improvements.

6. Evaluate results. Usually, this occurs some time after the implementation. Have the severity and
frequency of crashes been reduced to an acceptable level? If not, return to step 2.