GK Notes on Water & Air Transport in India

Water Transport

The cheapest and oldest form of transportation is by water. With the exception of canals, it does not require significant capital expenditure to build and maintain its track because it runs on a natural track. Additionally, water transportation has very low operating costs. It is best suited for transporting heavy items over long distances because it has the biggest carrying capacity. It is essential to international trade and has played a very significant role in bringing various regions of the world closer together.

India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The country’s waterways have been divided into internal and oceanic waterways.

Types of Water Transport: 

There are two main types of Water Transport available namely:

• Inland Water Transport 
• Ocean Transport 

The following waterways have been declared as National Waterways:

• NW1– Allahabad to Haldia – 1620 Km
• NW2– Sadia to Dhubri on Brahmaputra River – 891 Km
• NW3– Kollam to Kottapuram – 168 km
• NW4- Kakinada to Marakkannam along Godavari and Krishna river – 1095 km
• NW5- Mangalgarhi to Paradeep and Talcher to Dhamara along Mahanadi and Brahmini – 623 Km

12 – Major Ports in India

Western Coast

• Tidal Port – (Child of Partition) – Gujarat
• Mumbai – (Busiest and biggest) – Maharashtra
• JL Nehru- (Fastest growing) – Maharashtra
• Marmugao – (Naval base also) – Goa
• Mangalore – (Exports Kudremukh iron–ore) – Karnataka
• Cochin – (Natural harbour) – Kerala

Eastern Coast

• Paradip – (exports raw iron to japan) – Odisha
• Vishakhapatnam – (deepest port) – Andhra Pradesh
• Chennai – ( Most modern in private hands) – Tamil Nadu
• Ennore – (Most modern in Private hands) – Tamil Nadu
• Tuticorin – (Southernmost) – Tamil Nadu
• Port Blair – (Strategically important) – Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Air Transport

The newest kind of transportation is air travel. It is the world’s gift from the 20th century. The two world wars greatly influenced the growth of air travel in practically every nation on earth. The peculiarity of air transportation is that it can operate without a designated surface track. It doesn’t have any physical restrictions like other forms of transportation do. Political boundaries are likewise meaningless, even though it must adhere to the rules of international law. 

The speed of air travel is its greatest benefit. It is the fastest form of transportation. However, because of its high operating costs, it is only appropriate for wealthy passengers, mail, and expensively light freight.

• JRD Tata was the first person to take a solo flight form Mumbai to Karachi in 1931.
• In 1935, the ‘Tata Air Lines’ started its operation between Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram and in 1937 between Mumbai and Delhi.
• In 1953, all the private airline companies were nationalized and Indian Airlines and Air India came into existence.
• Vayudoot Limited started in 1981 as a private air carrier and later on it merged with Indian Airlines.
• International Airports Authority of India and National Airports Authority were merged on 1995 to form Airports Authority of India.
• The Authority manages the Civil Aviation Training College at Allahabad and National Institute of Aviation Management and Research at Delhi.

12 – International Airports in India

• Rajiv Gandhi International Airport – Hyderabad
• Calicut International Airport – Calicut
• Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport – Mumbai
• Kempe Gowda International Airport – Bengaluru
• Goa Airport in Vasco di Gama city – Goa
• Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport – Kolkata
• Thiruvananthapuram International Airport – Thiruvananthapuram
• Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport – Guwahati
• Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel International Airport – Ahmedabad
• Indira Gandhi International Airport – Delhi
• Chennai International Airport – Chennai
• Shri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport – Amritsar