Merits of Railway Transport

Some of the important merits of railway transport are as under:

1. Easy Mode of Travel Railways provide the cheapest and the most convenient mode of passenger transport, both for short and long distances. Railways are particularly suited for long distance journeys.

2. Accelerates Industrialisation Railways have played a vital role in the process of economic development, industrialisation, and urbanisation of the country.

3. Agricultural Development Railways have played a significant role in the development and intensification of agriculture. In fact, the farmers can sell their perishable and non-perishable commodities to long distant market at a remunerative price. The fertiliser used in the High Yielding Varieties is also generally transported to the farmers in different parts of the country by the railways.

4. Connects Remote Cultures Railways connect people from the areas of isolation and relative isolation with the urban centres and thus accelerate social interaction and national integration and help in the diffusion of new ideas and innovations.

5. Helps in the Maintenance of Law and Order At the time of communal tension and sociopolitical turmoil, railways play a significant role facilities, cleanliness at railway stations, lack of security arrangements on the railways result into frequent thefts, robberies, and dacoities.

Looking at the above problems, it will be decades before India gets close to Japan’s superfast and clean trains.