Different Modes of Transportation

Modes of Transportation are how the traffic or goods can be carried, which could give maximum flexibility of services from origin to destination, maintaining safe, rapid, and economic conditions.

  1. Modes of Transportation  

The majorly used modes of transportation are as follows:

a. Land

b. Water

c. Air

The land has provided power for the development of transportation by roads and railways.

Water and air medium are employed for waterway and airway transportation, respectively.

The roads, highways, city streets, feeder roads, and village roads have provided capacity for many road vehicles and pedestrians.

Railways are designed each for long-distance transportation of products and passengers and together for urban travel.

The transportation through ocean, river, canal, and large lakes using ships and boats is known as a waterway. Here water is used as a medium for transportation.

The airways assist in faster transportation by aircraft and carriers. Besides this, other modes of transportation contain pipelines, elevators, belt conveyors, cable cars, and aerial ropeways. The transportation of substances like fluid, i.e., oil, water, gas, etc., from one location to another is carried with the use of Pipelines.

  2. Different Modes of Transportation  

1. Road Transportation

The branch of transportation engineering that works with the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of roadway facilities is defined as Road Engineering or Highway Engineering.

Among all types of transportation, the road system is the only method that could provide maximum flexibility of service to advance from one location to the preferred zone.

Different vehicles, such as cars, buses, trucks, two-wheelers, etc., may be allowed to employ the roads. Apart from road vehicles, pedestrians also employ the road system’s facilities.

The road transport method has the maximum flexibility for travel regarding route selection, direction, time, and travel speed.

Road transportation is the only strategy that serves the movement of passengers and goods independently directly from the place of origin up to the destination of any journey along with the land. In other words, delivering a door-to-door service only by road transport is feasible.

The other three modes of transportation, i.e., railways, waterways, and airways, need to rely on transportation by road to start and end the journey.

Therefore road network is essential to work as a feeder system for all other modes of transportation and increase them.

Thus it is essential to develop a well-planned road network throughout the country to suit both as an independent transport system and as feeder transport for the other three modes of transportation.

The restrictions of road transport are that the rate of petroleum energy ingested for transportation of unit weight by unit distance) is more than for transportation by railways and waterways.

The emission rate of pollutants is also much more than the other modes of transport.

From the point of view of conservation of energy in the nation and underestimating air pollution due to transportation, it is desirable to work out and execute a national guideline on coordination between various modes of transportation.

It may be necessary to permit a clean and healthy environment and competition between the various modes of transportation.

Advantages of Road Transportation

1. Big influential region.

2. Low capital investment is needed.

3. Door-to-door service

4. Flexibility in service, road users can move automobiles from one lane to another or from one road to another as per condition.

5. Economic modes of transportation are also essential for the economic growth of a nation.

6. It can operate as a feeder line for other modes of transport.

7. Maintain a high potential for employment & support to fix the unemployment issue.

8. Safety is high as road accidents have a less disastrous effect than railway or airways accidents.

9. Movements railways on roads are not time-bound, as in the case of airways

Disadvantages of the Road Transportation

1. Safety:

It owns a poor record of safety.

2. Moreland coverage, destroy forest and agricultural land

3. Environmental pollution

4. Energy consumption:

It concludes to be imported ample fuel, which needs Parking on the road, transport parking is already a big issue.

2. Rail Transportation

The idea of rail transportation is the movement of numerous wagons, a train of wagons, or passenger bogies equipped with steel wheels maneuvering over two parallel steel rails of the railway track.

The opposition to traction along the railway track for the movement of the steel wheels of the rail wagons is considerably lower than that along the more irregular road surface for the movement of road vehicles with rubber tires under identical circumstances of speed and atmospheric factors.

The energy required to carry a unit load through a unit distance by the railway is just a fraction (one-fourth to one-sixth) of that needed by road.

Therefore the full benefit of rail transportation should be carried for transporting bulk goods and passengers, especially for lengthy distances on land routes and where railway tracks are available.

Railway transportation between railway stations could be economical and profitable for passengers and transporting goods over long distances.

The railways can move a considerable number of passengers or a significant number of goods at a time.

The railways also work as mass rapid transport for commuters to move from suburban locations to the urban centers and for trips within the urban area of big cities.

Railway Engineering may be defined as the branch of transportation engineering that deals with planning, designing, constructing, and maintaining railway tracks, rail stations, and yards containing the control system and safety devices.

Various locomotives with steam or diesel engines or electric locomotives along the electrified railway tracks have been employed worldwide to haul trains.

Transportation to and from the railway stations is to be achieved by road transportation.

Passengers and goods on land routes at reasonably low prices and the roads could act as a feeder system for transportation to the interior parts and the intermediate localities between the railway stations.

Therefore to save energy, an integrated rail- cum-road transport network could be valuable in developing countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and more.

3. Water Transportation

Transportation by water produces the lowest resistance to traction and needs the lowest energy to move a unit load through a unit distance.

The energy needed to move a vessel on the water is much smaller than that needed on land and far less than that needed to maintain an aircraft airborne.

Therefore water transportation is the most energy efficient. But water transportation is very slow, which is the most potent drawback of this mode of transportation.

This is the slowest among all four modes of transportation. Though some passenger traffic employs water transportation, the most important user of this method is the bulk cargo of reasonably low worth, mainly because of the slow speed and low transportation cost for the bulk cargo.

The waterway is required to work the ships and boats on sea routes between the harbors and ports.

The other facilities needed are to deliver shelter to the ships and the crews, for loading, unloading, and storing cargo, and for carrying out routine and major maintenance of the vessels.

Transportation engineering, which deals with the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of docks and harbors, is called Harbour Engineering.

Harbors are terminals built with components such as docks, The branch of Inland water transportation is made possible along the rivers, canals, and lakes by boat and ferry service, which operate between small ports.

Inland waterways, being of reasonably shallow depth, the freight is mainly carried on barges and is moved by towing boats. Road and rail transport is a feeder system to move goods and passengers to and from the harbors and ports.

4. Air Transportation

Transportation by air is the fastest among the four modes. Air transport provides more comfortable and fast travel resulting in substantial savings in travel time for the passengers between the airports.

Unlike other modes of transport, air transport allows continuous journeys over land and water, even across inaccessible places. Two, the overall operating expenses for air transportation are the highest compared to the other modes.

Another limitation is that the operation of air transport is very much long hauls is on airports. One of the limitations is that the energy required and affected by weather conditions such as severe storms and thick fog developed to provide facilities for the aircraft for take-off, landing, and out maintenance works.

Some essential components of an airport parking and carrying airport are a runway, taxiway, terminal facilities, visual aid, control, and safety system.

The branch of transportation engineering which deals with the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of airports to cater to the needs of the aircraft that are expected to make use of these airports is called Airport Engineering.

The airway is For shorter hauls; helicopters take off. Military aviation is also essential to meet the defense needs of a country.

The requirements of military airports could vary depending upon several other factors used and heliports developed for their landing. Thus, air transportation caters to the movement of passengers and freight between airports.

Travel to and from airports is transportation, particularly by road or rail and road transportation.

5. Other Modes of Transportation

Pipelines transport, ropeway, Belt conveyors, etc., are even modes of transport. Pipeline transport runs through a pipe, primarily liquid, and gases, but pneumatic tubes can also transmit solid capsules employing compressed air.

Ropeway or cable transport is a wide mode with vehicles instead of an internal power source. It is most typically dragged by cables at steep gradients, e.g., Cable car, Tuin, escalator, etc., some of these as conveyer transport.

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