Category Transport

What is sustainable transport?

As the UN observes World Sustainable Transport Day on November 26, we take a look at what it means for Indian cities

All of us hate traffic jams. A person living in Mumbai spends an average of 9 days every year just being stuck in traffic, according to the India Traffic Report. 2019. There is a lot that citizens, like you and me, can do to change this Sustainable transport, according to the United Nations, can ease the pain of commuting through cities for everyone, including those with special needs.

Public transport

There are over 34 crore motor vehicles on Indian roads now, compared to a mere 14 crore in 2011 While the number of vehicles keeps growing meterorically, there aren’t enough roads and parking spaces to accommodate all of them. The result -long winding traffic craints, parking problem , and a spike in road accidents.

At least one road accident was reported within every three minutes in India in 2022. A total of 1.68 lakh lives were lost. Despite all the data, faster bikes and bigger SUVs continue to be the aspirational purchases for the indian public, encouraged by loans and regulatory easements provided by the government. Mobility experts say public transport is the one and only panacea to this problem. it will help reduce road accidents, reduce carbon emissions, and resolve the space crunch that we are facing on roads and parking lots. But in the current form, public transport in India is plagued by many challenges.

Challenges to public transport. While policymakers keep pushing us to use public transport regularly, the fact remains that most of our casting systems are already full and overburdened. The Mumbai local trains, for instance, carry a whopping 80 lakh passengers a day By comparison, the local trains in Chennai ferry about 25 lakh Cities invested heavily in metro mil to reduce the burden on existing systems, and provide connectivity to new areas. While the public uptake has been encouraging, last-mile connectivity remains a challenge Last-mile connectivity means ensuring passengers have a reliable mode of commute from metro stations to their final destination. Providing rental or free cycles, ensuring metro stations are located near bus stands, commercial junctions, providing shuttle bus services, are some options that are being explored for last-mile connectivity on a trial-and-error basis. While these efforts are yet to bear fruit, lessons are being learnt across cities for implementation on a wider scale.

Pedestrians ignored

 Indian cities are fast becoming a nightmare for pedestrians. The Indian Road Congress has clearly laid out guidelines on the size of footpaths to be laid based on the size and category of roads. However, these norms are constantly flouted. Houses cutting into footpaths to build driveways and shops and illegally parked vehicles encroaching walking spaces are a common sight across our cities today.

A long-term study by IIT Madras showed that between 2009 and 2017, 80% of road accidents in Chennai involved pedestrians on footpaths or at road crossings. Since then, Chennai has tried to popolarise the concept of pedestrian plazas, by promoting big, dedicated walkways in various parts of the city. The initiative has been reasonably successful.

Electric vehicles

After walking and public transport, electric vehicles are the next best bet. While they do not remote universal access, they do mitigate the impact of vehicular and public transport, electric vehicles are the next best bet. While they do not promote universal access, they do mitigate the impact of vehicular pollution on the environment. Still, concerns remain as most of the electricity generated today in the country comes from burning dirty coal. The disposal of EV batteries-which are toxic to the environment is also a concern.

Sustainable transport is about building systems that can be used by anybody and everybody. It has to be affordable for the poor, accessible for the disabled, and seamless for the busy office-goers. As citizens, it is our duty to push the envelope with policymakers to make sustainable transport a reality in our cities.

Picture Credit : Google

What is green hydrogen?

The government is targeting 5 million tonnes (MT) of green hydrogen production by 2030, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her Budget speech earlier this month. But what is green hydrogen and why are countries keen on promoting its usage? Let's find out.

Clean energy

Hydrogen is an odourless, invisible gas. Highly inflammable at standard temperature and pressure, it is the most abundant chemical element in the universe. However, it is rarely available in pure form. It mostly exists with oxygen to form water (H2O). Hydrogen can be produced from various resources such as natural gas, nuclear power, solar, and wind. But what is green hydrogen? Hydrogen produced, by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, using power from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind is referred to as 'green hydrogen. The hydrogen thus produced can be used as a clean and renewable fuel for transportation, electricity generation, and other purposes. (Incidentally, hydrogen produced using coal is called black hydrogen.)

Cut carbon footprint

The problem of climate change cannot be resolved unless we cut carbon emissions. Considered an alternative fuel, green hydrogen can change our dependency on polluting fossil fuels. It is also called the fuel of the future as it does not emit harmful, polluting gases during production or use. This means there are no carbon emissions, hence it is eco-friendly and sustainable. This fuel alternative can be used in industrial applications and can be easily stored as a gas or liquid. It can be used to power household appliances and carried by tankers to hydrogen filling stations.

Energy security

Countries worldwide are working on building green hydrogen capacity as it can ensure energy security and help cut emissions. Green hydrogen, which is highly expensive to produce, currently accounts for less than 1% of global hydrogen production. With the goal of making the country an energy-independent nation and decarbonising critical sectors, the Indian Government in January approved a Rs 19,744-crore National Green Hydrogen Mission. Set to give a new direction to India, the mission's aim is to encourage commercial production of green hydrogen and facilitate demand creation, utilisation, and export of the fuel. Under the programme, States and regions capable of supporting large scale production or utilisation of hydrogen will be identified and developed as Green Hydrogen Hubs.

Picture Credit : Google 

Which is the longest bridge in the world?

The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China is the world’s longest bridge with a length of 165 kilometres. It is a part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and has played a crucial role in reducing the travel time between Beijing and Shanghai.

It is a girder bridge, a common form of bridge construction that is found all over the world. The bridge only took about four years to materialize as girders generally increase the speed of construction.

Due to its extraordinary length, the bridge is spread across different geographical terrains and building it required remarkable engineering knowledge. It was designed by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, which is a section of the China Communications Construction Company. This project was completed on time and was fully built by the November of 2010.

It was officially opened for the public the next year, in June.

Picture Credit : Google 

Why is the Seikan Tunnel known as the longest undersea tunnel?

The Seikan Tunel in Japan is the world’s longest undersea tunnel, in terms of overall length. Although the Channel Tunnel, connecting England and France, is shorter, it has a longer undersea segment. Seikan is also the second-deepest transport tunnel that is located below the sea level- the deepest one being the Ryfylke Tunnel, which is a road tunnel in Norway that was opened in 2019.

The Seikan Tunnel is 53.85 kilometres long and is a dual-gauge railway tunnel. It has a 23.3 kilometres segment under the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait (which separates Aomori Prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu from the northern island of Hokkaido). The track level of this tunnel is about 100 metres below the sea-bed and 240 metres below sea level.

Seikan Tunnel is also the second longest main-line railway tunnel- the longest one being the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland, which was opened in 2016.

Picture Credit : Google 

Which is the longest railway line in the world?

The Trans-Siberian Railway is a railway network that connects Western Russia to the Russian Far East. It is the longest railway line in the world with a length of 9,289 kilometres. Expansion of this railway system is still continuing as of 2021, reaching to Mongolia, China, and North Korea. There is a plan of connecting Tokyo to this network via bridges between the mainland and the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido.

Planned and executed by Tsar Alexander III, its construction began in 1891 and took place in different sections from the west (Moscow) and from the east (Vladivostok) and across intermediate reaches through the Mid-Siberian Railway, the Transbaikal Railway, and other lines simultaneously. In the east, the Russians secured China’s permission to build a line directly across Manchuria from the Transbaikal region to Vladivostok and this line was completed in 1901.

After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, Russia feared Japan’s possible takeover of Manchuria and built a longer and complex alternative route – the Amur Railway, through this region to Vladivostok. The Amur railway line was completed in 1916. As a result, the Trans-Siberian Railroad has two completion dates.

Its completion marked a milestone in the history of Siberia, as it opened up large areas to be exploited for settlement, and industrialization.

Picture Credit : Google 

Why is the Pan-American Highway special?

The Pan-American Highway is the world’s longest “motorable road”. It also holds a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Started as a single route in 1923, this road grew into a number of designated highways in participating countries, and has now become a network of highways between North America and South America. From Alaska and Canada to Chile, Brazil, and the southern tip of Argentina, this vast network is nearly 30,600 km long. The Inter-American Highway, which extends from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to Panama City (5,390 km), is a part of it.

In 1937, Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and the United States signed the Convention on the Pan-American Highway, by which all of them came together for the quick construction of their respective sections of the highway. The Mexican section, which was the first Latin American section to be completed, was carried out completely by Mexico. However, the U.S. had to provide assistance to build the sections through many of the Central American countries.

The Pan-American Highway is almost continuous, except at the Darien Gap, which is the overland route between Panama and Colombia. This route is about a 100 kilometres. The Darien Gap consists of environmentally sensitive rainforests and marshlands and are inhabited by indigenous people, who have always opposed any plans to continue the construction of the highway in this region. People who want to cover this length of the Americas on the Pan-American Highway generally travel the gap by boat or plane.

Picture Credit : Google