Explain why rail transport continues to remain the chief mode of transportation for the masses in India.

The principal modes of transportation are land ways, waterways, airways and through pipelines. But today the rail transport system is largely being replaced by the road transport system.

Railways are the most economical means of transportation, especially for long distances. In the colonial era, rail transport was developed to exploit the resources in inaccessible areas and to ensure connectivity to ports. Even today, major ports will be well-connected with railways resulting in the faster transport of bulkier goods to other places. With the advancement of technology, India has been well-connected by the rail network. Thus, railways ensure the connectivity of different regions and economical transportation of goods from place to place.

The Indian Railways was introduced in the country in1853 when a line was constructed from Bombay to Thane covering a distance of 34 km. Today the Indian Railways is the largest government undertaking in the country. The railways are controlled and managed by the central government. It is divided into 16 different zones.

The reasons for which railways are preferred over the road network are:

• Economical

Railways are most economical for both long and short distance. Railways cover all part of the country. In olden times the railway was economical only for the long distances but recently in most of the cities, the railway has been developed to a short distance and also far economical than roadways. Short distance trains are suburban trains, EMU and metro trains.

• Raw materials

The Indian railway network is one of the longest in the world. It enables the movement of both goods and passengers to long distances cheaply. Most of the industrial units are being set up according to the railway system because of bulky transportation with minimum cost.

• Time-saving

It is much faster compared to roadways because railways are least affected by weather conditions and traffic jams. In cities, the roads contain traffic jams which consume more time than it usually takes.

This reason contributes to the preference of the railways over roadways.