Chapter – 8

Transport and Communication

In this post, we have given the Important Questions of Class 12 Geography Chapter 8 (Transport and Communication) in English. These Important Questions are useful for the students who are going to appear in class 12 board exams.

Board	CBSE Board, UP Board, JAC Board, Bihar Board, HBSE Board, UBSE Board, PSEB Board, RBSE Board
Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class 12
Subject	Geography
Chapter no.	Chapter 8
Chapter Name	(Transport and Communication)
Category	Class 12 Geography Important Questions in English
Medium	English

Chapter – 8, (Transport and Communication)

Very Short Answer (2 marks)

Q1. What are the problems of road transport in mountainous, desert and flood prone regions?

Ans: It is very difficult and expensive to construct and maintain roads in mountainous and desert areas. In flood prone regions, roads are not sustainable. The unmetalled roads become unmotorable during rainy season and even the metalled roads are washed away during flood.

Q2. What is a trans-continental railway?
Ans: Trans-continental railways connect two ends of the continent while running across it. Trans-Siberian railway and Trans-Canadian railway are two important trans-continental railways.

Q3. What are the advantages of water transport?
Ans: Advantages of water transport are as follows:

• The most important advantage of water transport is that route construction is not required.
• It is also cheaper and energy efficient because of the less friction of water.

Q4. What is the significance of modes of transport
Ans: Significance of Modes of Transport The significance of transport depends upon factors such as types of goods and services to be
transported, cost of transport, and the availability of transport.

• Ocean freight transport carries international goods.
• Road transport carries goods and people over short distances and provides door-to-door services. It is cheaper and faster for these types of services. Railways are most suitable for the large volumes of bulky materials over long distances within a country.
• Airways are most suited for high-value, light, and perishable goods. All these modes of transport complement each other in a well-managed transport system. A transport network is formed when several places (nodes) are joined together by a series of routes (links) to form a pattern.

Q5. What is border roads?
Ans: Border Roads : These are the roads which are built along international boundaries. These are mainly built for defence purposes, to connect remote or inaccessible areas with cities and to transport goods to border villages and military camps.

Q6. What do you mean by Highways?
Ans: Highways: Highways are metalled roads that connect distant places. These are constructed for unobstructed flow of traffic. These are 80m wide and provide separate traffic lanes, bridges, flyovers and dual carriageways. In developed countries, every city and port town is linked through highways.

Q7. Classified the railway Gauges.
Ans: Railway gauges are generally classified across different countries as :

Broad gauge- more than 1.676 metre.
Metre gauge – 1 metre.
Narrow gauge – below 0.762 or 0.610 metre.

Q8. What are the advantages of Air transport?
Ans: Advantages of Air Transport Despite having some limitations, air transport is more advantageous in the modern world:

• Valuable cargo and perishable goods can be moved rapidly on a worldwide scale.
• The inaccessible areas have become accessible through this mode of transport. For example, the airplane brings varied articles to the Eskimos in Northern Canada unhindered (freely) by the frozen ground. Another example, is from the Himalayan region, where the routes are often
  obstructed due to landslides, avalanches or heavy snowfall. At such times, air travel is the only alternative to reach a place.
• Air transport has brought about a connectivity revolution in the world. Because of air transport, the travelling time is reduced to hours and minutes from years and months.
• Air transport has great strategic advantage as it can be used for military and tactical operations. The air strikes by U.S. and British forces in Iraq proves this fact.

Q9. What do you mean by communication?
Ans: Communication is the exchanging of information by speaking, writing or using some other means, e.g. Telephone, television, Satellites, Internet etc.

Q10. Define pipeline transport.
Ans: Pipelines: Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods or material through pipes. Pipelines have immense importance in uninterruptedly transporting liquids and gases like water petroleum, natural gas, liquified coal, cooking gas or LPG, etc. In New Zealand, pipelines are also used to supply milk from farms to factories. The USA has a dense network of oil pipelines which runs from producing areas to consuming areas. In the USA about 17 per cent of all freight per tonne-km is carried through pipelines.

For example- Big Inch is a pipeline which carries Petroleum from the oil wells of the Gulf of Mexico to the northeastern states.

Q11. What do you mean by cyberspace or internet?
Ans: Cyberspace or Internet : Cyberspace or internet is the electronic digital world for communicating or accessing data information over computer networks without physical movement of the sender and receiver. It is encompassed by the World Wide Web (www). We can use cyberspace anywhere, for example, in office, sailing boats, aeroplanes, etc. We cannot measure the speed at which this electronic network has spread in human history.The cyber space exists everywhere from an office to a boat or an airplane.

Q12. Distinguish between National Highways and State Highways.
Ans:

National Highways :

• They connect state capitals and big cities across the nation.
• They are managed and maintained by the Public Works Department under Central Government.
• These are important for the economy of the whole nation.
• In India, the total length of National Highways is 65.000 km.

State Highways:

• They connect all the big cities within a particular state.
• They are managed and maintained by the Public Works Department under State Government.
• These are important for the economy of a particular state and surrounding regions.
• Total length of State Highways in India is about 1,32,000 km

Q13. What are the different roles played by pack animals in transportation in different parts of the world?
Ans. Pack animals are those animals which are used as a means of transportation. Some of the roles played by pack animals are

• In Western countries horses are used as a draught animal.
• Dogs and reindeers are used to draw sledges over snow covered area in North America, North Europe and Siberia.
• Camels are used in desert for caravan movement and bullocks carts in India.
• Mules are used in mountain areas for carrying people as well as goods.

Short Answer Type Questions (3 Marks)

Q1. Describe any three major problems of road transport in the world.
Ans: Road transport plays an important role in the economy of a country. But it faces various problems, which include:

• During rainy days, the roads which are unmetalled are damaged seriously. Even unmetalled roads are washed away by floods, which results in breaking up the road network.
• The road transport system records heavy traffic. When roads cannot cope up with the demands of traffic on the road, roads are heavily congested.
• Huge amounts of money is required for construction and maintenance of roads which affects the quality of roads, mainly in developing countries. Road networks of the world are not fully developed.

Q2. Explain any three points of economic significance of Trans-Siberian railways.
Ans: The Trans-Siberian railways are a major rail route of Russia. It runs from St. Petersburg in the West to Vladivostok in the East on the Pacific coast. It is significant for the economy in the following ways:

• It has made it possible to link Asian markets with the European markets. Now goods can be easily transported between the two continents, which provide a boost to the economies of both continents.
• It connects various commercial centers in Europe and Asia and provides push to trade and commerce. For example, it runs through Ural Mountains and connects Chita (agro centre) to Irkutsk (fur centre).
• This railway network has improved connectivity towards its South by the L connecting links such as towards Odessa (Ukraine), Ulan Bator (Mongolia), Beijing (China) etc. Thus, the economies of these regions have also integrated by the 20 network.

Q3. Write any four advantages of rail transport
Ans: The four advantages of railways transport

• It is a cheap mode of transport for carrying bulky goods and passengers over long distances in a country or within two continents.
• Rail transport connects the commercial centers of a country and provides a boost to the economy and industry in the country. For example, development of railways has supported mining and manufacturing in USA.
• the densely populated regions of the world, passenger trains carry millions of people to and from their work places. Thus, it is very important for commuting purposes in these regions.

Q4. Write short note on the following ocean routes.
Ans:

(i) North Atlantic Sea Route
(ii) The South Atlantic Sea Route

(i) The North Atlantic Sea Route connects the two industrially developed regions of the world which are North-Eastern USA and a North-Western Europe. It accounts for one-fourth of world’s foreign trade. It is the busiest route in the world. The other name of this route is Big
Trunk Route. This route has highly advanced ports and harbour facilities.

(ii) The South Atlantic Sea Route links West European and West African countries with Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in South America. There is limited development and population in South America and Africa. Hence, there is little traffic on this route. The traffic is very low on the route between Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town.

Q5. Describe any three advantages of water transport in the world.

OR

Mention any six advantages of oceanic routes.
Ans: Advantages of water transport or oceanic routes are as follows:
(i) There is no need to construct routes over To the oceans due to which the construction cost is saved.
(ii) Because of the less friction of water as compared to land, it is much cheaper mode of transport.
(iii) Compared to land and air, ocean transport is a cheaper means for carrying of bulky materials over long distances.
(iv) Water transport is energy efficient.
(v) It does not require maintenance.
(vi) Oceans are linked with each other and the ship of various sizes can be accommodated.

Q6. State any six characteristics of Suez Canal.
  Six characteristics of Suez Canal are as follows:

(i) Suez canal links Port Said in the North and Port Suez in the South connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
(ii) It greatly reduced the sea route distance between Liverpool and Colombo as compared to the earlier Cape of Good Hope route.
(iii) It has opened a new route to the Indian ocean for the Europeans, which improved trade and commerce.
(iv) It has no locks and it is 160 km long and 11 to 15 m deep.
(v) It is joined by a navigable freshwater canal from the Nile, which supplies freshwater to Port Said and Suez.
(vi) A railway line runs along the canal, which connects other parts of region

Q7. Why is Rhine the world’s most heavily used waterway? Explain any three reasons.

OR

“The Rhine waterways is the world’s most heavily used inland waterway’. In the light of this statement, examine the waterway significance.
Ans: The Rhine flows through Germany and the Netherlands. The reasons for the Rhine to be the world’s most heavily used waterway are as follows:
(i) The river Rhine is navigable for 700 km from Rotterdam in Netherlands to Basel in Switzerland.
(ii) It flows through a rich coalfield which has made the whole region a prosperous manufacturing area.
(iii) The waterway links the industrial areas of Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, wood Netherlands with North Atlantic sea routes
(iv) The Ruhr river joins the Rhine from its East. There is movement of huge volumes of freight to the South of Ruhr River. More than 20,000 ships and 20,00,000 inland vessels exchange their cargoes annually in this region.

Q8. Mention the famous oil pipeline of the USA. How are pipelines one of the most convenient modes of transport?
Ans: There is a dense network of oil pipelines in the USA which run from the oil-producing areas to consuming areas. One such famous pipeline is called Big Inch. It carries petroleum from the oil wells of the Gulf of Mexico to the North-Eastern states. Pipelines are one of the most convenient modes of transport as they are used extensively to transport liquids and gases such as water, petroleum, oil and natural gas. They can carry liquid and gaseous materials for a long distance without any interruption or delays. The pipelines directly link the producing areas to the consuming areas.

Q9. What is cyberspace? Describe any two advantages of Internet.
Ans: Cyberspace or internet refers to the electronic digital world that is used for communicating or accessing data information over computer networks without any physical movement of the sender and the receiver. The cyberspace works within the World Wide Web (WWW) cyberspace can be accessed anywhere. For example in offices, at homes, in schools etc. In the last few years, it has expanded rapidly. The user base has shifted from the developed countries like to USA to less developed countries such as China and India. There were about 2 billion internet users in the world in 2010 AD.

The advantages of internet are:
(i) It expands the social and economic space of people with the help of e-mail, e-commerce, e-learning, e-governance etc.
(ii) Internet communication has connected more and more people across the world. It has made the concept of global village a reality.

Long answer type questions (5 Marks)

Q1. Describe the journey of development of land transport from the days of humans a carriers and the cable ways of today.
Ans: Land transport is an important and useful mode of transport.
In older days, human and animals were important carriers. For example, Palanquin (palki/doli) was used to carry brides by four persons (Kahars in North India). Later, animals were used as means of transport. For example, mules, horses, camels, oxen, etc were used in rural areas. With the invention of the wheel, the use of carts and wagons became important.
The 18th century marks the revolution in transport which came about only after the invention of the steam engine. In the 19th century, railways became the most popular and fastest form of transport with the opening of the first public railway line in 1825 between Stockton and Darlington in Northern England.
In the USA, the development of railways also facilitated commercial grain farming, mining, and manufacturing in the continental interiors of the country. On the other hand, the invention of the internal combustion engine revolutionized road transport in terms of road quality and vehicles (motor cars and trucks) flying over them. The newer forms of land transportation have emerged in recent times. It includes pipelines, ropeways, and always. These are faster and more efficient as compared to other means of transport.

Q2. ‘Trans-Canadian railway line is considered as the economic artery of Canada.’ Support the statement with suitable examples.

OR

Which is the longest trans-continental railway of North America? Describe its any four features.

OR

Describe the significance of ‘Trans-Canadian Railway’.
Ans: The longest trans-continental railway line in North America is Trans-Canadian Railway line. It covers a distance of 7050 km, running from Halifax in the East to Vancouver on the Pacific Coast.
The Trans-Canadian railway line is considered the economic artery of Canada due to the following reasons
(i) It connects the important industrial cities of Montreal, Ottawa. Winnipeg and Calgary. Goods and people can be easily transported to and from these economic centres with the railways
(ii) It connects Quebec-Montreal industrial region with the wheat but of Prairie region. Thus, raw materials and finished products are transported with these railways.
(iii) The line also connects the Coniferous forest region in the North to the Quebec Montreal and the Prairies. All these regions have become complementary to each other and they support economic activities.
(iv) A loop line from Winnipeg to Thunderbay (Lake Superior) connects this rail line with one of the most important waterways in the world. This is used for exporting various products

Q3. Name the longest trans-continental railway of the world. Describe it’s any four features.

OR

Describe the significance of “Trans-Siberian’ Railway.
Ans: Trans-Siberian railway is the longest trans-continental railway of the world. The TransSiberian railways runs from St. Petersburg are the West to Vladivostok the Pacific coast in the East. It is Asia’ most important route.

Significance of the Trans-Siberian railways are as follows:

It connects various important commercial and industrial centres such as Moscow, Ufa, Irkustsk, Chita etc. These centres are important for the economy of the region. In Asia, it is the longest as well as double tracked and electrified railways. Due to this, it is possible to link Asian and European markets.
This railway line has connecting links further Les sth Southwards. It connects Odessa in Ukraine, Baku on the Caspian Coast, Tashkent in Uzbekistan etc. This railway line is important for trade and commerce between the continents of Asia and Europe. It provides integration of both continents in terms of their economy and society.

Q4. Which means of transport is extensively used for carrying water, petroleum, natural gas and other liquids? Describe the network of this means of transport in the world.

OR

Name the principal mode of transportation in the world which is used for carrying liquid and gaseous materials only. Mention any four characteristics of this mode of transportation.

OR

Analyze any five points of importance of ‘pipelines’ as means of transportation.
Ans: The means of transport used extensively for carrying water, petroleum, natural gas and other liquids is pipeline transport. Pipelines have the following characteristics:
(i) It is most convenient and efficient means of transporting liquids and gases over long distances
(ii) Pipelines can also transport solids after converting them into slurry (wet mixture).
(iii) Its initial set up cost is high, but after that, pipelines transport liquids and gases very cheaply.
(iv) It does not require much space.
(v) Pipelines are energy efficient and environment friendly.
Pipeline Network in the World
Pipeline network can be found in the following regions:

• In New Zealand, pipelines are also used to supply milk from farms to factories.
• USA has a dense network of oil pipelines which runs from producing areas to the

Consuming areas.

• In USA, about 17 per cent of all freight per tonne-km is carried through pipelines.
• In many parts of the world like Europe, Russia, West Asia and India pipelines are used to connect oil wells to refineries, and to ports or domestic markets. Pipelines are expanding very fast.

For example, Turkmenistan in Central Asia has extended pipelines to Iran and also to parts of China

• The proposed Iran-India via Pakistan international oil and natural gas pipeline will be the longest in the world.

Q5. Explain the significance of each of the transport and communication services available in the world.
Ans: Significance of various transport services are as follows:
Road Transport: It is cheaper and faster mode of transport over short distance and for doorto-door services.

Railways: It is best suited for bulky goods and passengers for long distances.
Water Transport: It is the cheapest mode of transport because of less friction of water. Ocean routes are cheaper for carrying of bulky material from one continent to another.
Air Transport: It is the fastest means of transportation. It is best suited for long distance travel and worldwide transportation of valuable cargo.
Pipelines: It is used to carry liquids and gases from the producing areas to the consuming areas.

Significance of various communication services are as follows:
Satellite Communication: In contemporary, world, satellite communication has become very important with Internet as the largest electronic network on the planet connecting about 1000 million people in more than 100 countries.

Cyber Space-Internet: This electronic network der has spread rapidly. The number of users has increased from 400 million in 2000 AD to over two billion in 2010. It has brought people from different parts of world closer to each other.

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