24.

'Road transport and Rail transport in India are not competitive but complementary to each other.' Justify the statement.

India has the one of the largest road networks in the world. In India, roadways have preceded railways. They still have an edge over railways in views of the ease with which they can be built and maintained. But the growth of one means of transport cannot be attributed at the expense of another. Roadways and railways are complimentary to each other. Being a large country with diverse landforms, it is not possible to reach every corner of the country with rail network. In areas like hills and mountains, it is impossible to build railway lines. Hence, the only possible means to connect all such remote areas is by roads. While the railways connect the nodal points of our country, the roadways, on the other hand, extend this chain further to the hinterlands. This chain of networks helps our economy in two ways. Firstly, it facilitates bringing the raw materials for the industries from the hinterland to the factory sites and secondly, it helps in transporting the finished goods to the remotest parts of the country. Moreover, while road transport is economical in transportation of few persons and relatively smaller amount of goods and services over short distances, the railways, on the other hand, can be used for transportation of heavy cargo over long distances. Due to these reasons, road transport and rail transport in India are not competitive but complementary to each other.