1.1.2.3. Distribution of Railways in the World

The network of rail routes is unevenly distributed across the world. The economically developed countries of the world have more railways. Railways have played an important role in the industrialisation of these countries. The colonial rulers of Europe connected the interior parts of their colonies in Asia and Africa to the ports. The main purpose of this was to bring the raw material from the interior of these colonies to the ports, which was later shipped to European countries. This was the main purpose behind connecting Delhi to Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. Similar course was followed in Africa by the French, Italians and other colonial powers.

Later, most of the cities were connected by the railway networks. Parts of Europe have great density of railway network. It is said that Belgium has the world's densest rail route network It has 1 km railway lines for every 6.5sq km area. In Asia the countries of Japan, China and India are densely populated. They have also dense network of railways. In other countries railways are not widespread. West Asia is least developed in rail networks because of existence of vast deserts and thinly populated regions. Very recently China has constructed railway line up to Lhasa in Tibet. The Qinghai-Tibet railway is the highest altitude railways of the world. Another project, Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) undertaken by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific [UNESCAP] integrates freight railway networks across Europe and Asia. North America has the densest rail route network in the world. About 40 per cent rail routes of the world are found in this continent. Very heavy load like minerals, food grains, logs of timber etc. are transported by railways. Passengers, however, prefer air journey or road journey.

Intercontinental rail routes connect two ends of a continent. These rail routes are constructed from the political, economic and military points of view. Important among these routes are given below:

(i) Trans-Siberian Railway: This route was constructed for connecting European Russia to Siberia or Asian Russia and runs from St. Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast in the east passing through Moscow, Ufa, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Chita and Khabarovsk. It is the most important route in Asia and the longest (9,332 km) double- tracked and electrified trans– continental railway in the world. It has helped in opening up its Asian region to West European markets. Its development is on account of economic, political and defence reasons.

(ii) Canadian Pacific Railway: This 7,050 km long rail-line in Canada runs from Halifax in the east to Vancouver on the Pacific Coast passing through Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Calgary. This was constructed for connecting British Columbia (an eastern Province) to other states of Canada. Later on, it gained economic significance because it connected the Quebec-Montreal Industrial Region with the wheat belt of the Prairie Region and the Coniferous Forest region in the north. Thus each of these regions became complementary to the other.

(iii) Australian Intercontinental Rail Route: The main purpose of constructing this was to connect the Western Australia to east Australian states so as to keep it within the union.

(iv) The Union and Pacific Railway: This rail-line connects New York on the Atlantic Coast to San Francisco on the Pacific Coast passing through Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Evans, Ogden and Sacramento. The most valuable exports on this route are ores, grain, paper, chemicals and machinery.

(v) Trans-Asiatic Railway: A UN assisted rail project for linking Istanbul with Bangkok via Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar has been pending since a very long time.