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UPSC Prelims 2002 · Indian Geography · India’s Land and Borders
With reference to Indian transport systems, consider the following statements: Which of these statements are correct?
- Indian railway system is the largest in the world.
- National Highways cater to 45 percent of the total road transport demand.
- Among the states, Kerala has the highest density of surface road.
- National Highway No. 7 is the longest in the country.
- (a) 1 and 2
- (b) 1 and 3
- (c) 2 and 3
- (d) 2 and 4
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (c) 2 and 3
The key accepts the NH traffic share and Kerala’s road density.
Statement by statement
1. ✗ WRONG India’s rail network was the largest in Asia and fourth in the world, not the largest.
2. ✓ CORRECT National highways, about 2% of road length, carried roughly 40–45% of road traffic.
3. ✓ CORRECT Kerala had the highest road density among the States.
4. ✗ WRONG per the key The key treats this as wrong. Note: old NH 7 (Varanasi–Kanyakumari) was then the longest highway.
The idea
Transport statistics need both a date and a denominator. Network length, road density and share of traffic measure different things. A small fraction of road length can carry a large fraction of traffic because trunk routes connect major centres; highway numbers here belong to the older system.
Why the others are wrong
(a) The railway is not the world’s largest.
(b) The railway is not the world’s largest.
(d) The key rejects statement 4.
The trap
“Largest in the world” — Indian Railways is the largest in Asia and the largest employer, not the longest network.
Also know
Road density can be expressed per unit area or per person. Railway route kilometres count the route once, while track kilometres count parallel tracks separately. Old NH 7 ran from Varanasi to Kanyakumari; this route’s historical length status must be judged in the 2002 setting.
🔒 Rail network: USA > China > Russia > India. Road density: Kerala highest (older data).
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