Question.2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

(i) What are the problems of road transport in mountainous, desert and flood prone regions ?
Answer. The problem with road transport in the mountainous, desert and flood-prone areas is that it is not effective and serviceable for all season as it becomes unmotorable under extreme climatic conditions.

(ii) What is a trans–continental railway ?
Answer. The Trans–continental railways run across the continent and link their two ends. They were constructed for economic and political reasons to facilitate long runs in different directions.

(iii) What are the advantages of water transport ?
Answer. Water transport does not require route construction, and also cheaper because the friction of water is far less than that of land and has lower energy cost. The oceans are linked with each other and are negotiable with ships of various size.

Question.3. Answer the following questions in not more than 150 words.

(i) Elucidate the statement– “In a well managed transport system, various modes complement each other”.
Answer. The industries and economy in any country depend on the various modes of transport as a well-managed transport system is a link between the production and consumption. The raw materials are carried to the industries and the agricultural inputs are transported to the villages by the roads, railways, airways and waterways linked to expand the trade.

1. The international movement of goods is handled by the ocean routes.
2. The road transport is cheaper and fastest over short-distances.
3. The railways help to carry the heavy goods from port to port and are the most suited for the large volume of bulk materials over long distances.
4. The airways are significant in the transportation of the high-perishable goods.
5. Various modes of the transport system provide complementary services. They generate growth impulses in the backward regions by providing better services for resource utilisation.

(ii) Which are the major regions of the world having a dense network of airways.
Answer. In the Northern Hemisphere, there is a dense network of inter-continental air routes.

1. Dense network exists in Eastern U.S.A., Western Europe and Southeast Asia.
2. The U.S.A. alone accounts for 60 per cent of the airways of the world.
3. New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt Rome, Moscow, Karachi, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago are the nodal points where air routes converge or radiate to all continents.

(iii) What are the modes by which cyber space will expand the contemporary economic and social space of humans?
Answer. Cyberspace is the electronic digital world for communicating or accessing information over computer networks without physical movement of the sender and the receiver encompassing the Internet and the World Wide Web (www).

1. As billions use the Internet each year, the cyberspace will expand the contemporary economic and social space of humans.
2. It will expand through e-mail, e-commerce, e-learning and e-governance.
3. Internet together with fax, television and radio will be accessible to more and more people cutting across place and time.
4. These modern communication systems have made the concept of global village a reality.