Trans-continental railways

Detail

1. What a trans-continental railway is

• Trans-continental railway: a railway line that runs across a whole continent and links its two ends, usually one coast to the other.
• Why they were built: for economic and political reasons (NCERT exercise 2(ii)).
• Economic reason: they open up a remote interior so its farms, forests and mines can send goods to ports and markets.

• Political reason: they hold a large country together. Distant regions are tied to the capital, and new provinces are persuaded to join.

• Decline: many of these lines have lost traffic to air and road transport.

Railway	Continent	Direction	Ends (oceans)
Trans-Siberian	Asia (Russia)	West → East	Baltic Sea (St Petersburg) → Pacific / Sea of Japan (Vladivostok)
Trans-Canadian	North America	East → West	Atlantic (Halifax) → Pacific (Vancouver)
Union and Pacific	North America (USA)	East → West	Atlantic (New York) → Pacific (San Francisco)
Australian Trans-Continental	Australia	West → East	Indian Ocean (Perth) → Pacific / Tasman Sea (Sydney)
Orient Express	Europe	West → South-east	Paris → Istanbul (Bosphorus)

2. Trans-Siberian Railway (Russia) — Fig. 7.5

• Route (west to east): St Petersburg (Moscow in common use) → Moscow → Ufa → Novosibirsk → Irkutsk → Chita → Khabarovsk → Vladivostok.
• Physical barriers crossed:
• the Ural Mountains, which divide European Russia from Asian Russia (Ufa lies on the European side);

• the Ob and Yenisei rivers. Both are big Siberian rivers that flow north into the Arctic Ocean.

• Length: 9,332 km (NCERT). It is the world's longest double-tracked and electrified trans-continental railway.

• Double-tracked means there are two parallel tracks, so trains in opposite directions do not have to wait for each other.

• Importance: it is the most important route in Asia. It opened up Siberia's wealth (timber, furs, grain and minerals) to West European markets.

• Key centres:
• Chita: an agro-centre (a farm-trade town).

• Irkutsk: a fur centre, near Lake Baikal.

• Branch lines south: to Odessa (Ukraine), Baku (Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Ulan Bator (Mongolia), Shenyang (Mukden) and Beijing (China).

• Completion: the line was completed in 1916, and this was a turning point in Siberian history [6].
• Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM): a northern parallel line.
• It runs about 3,200 km from Ust-Kut on the Lena River to Komsomolsk-na-Amure on the Amur [5].
• It was built mainly from 1974 to 1989 and opened in 1989 [5].
• It gives Russia a second route to the Pacific, further away from the Chinese border.

3. Trans-Canadian Railway (Canada) — Fig. 7.6

• Route (east to west): Halifax (Nova Scotia, on the Atlantic) → Montreal → Ottawa → Winnipeg → Calgary → Vancouver (British Columbia, on the Pacific).
• Length: 7,050 km.
• Political reason: it was built so that British Columbia on the west coast would join the Canadian federation.

• The last spike was driven on 7 November 1885 at Craigellachie, British Columbia, which completed the Canadian Pacific Railway [4]. (NCERT: built in 1886.)

• Economic role: it made different regions complementary (each supplies what the others need):

• the Quebec–Montreal industrial region in the east;
• the prairie wheat belt (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta), a region of flat grassland;

• the coniferous forest region in the north.

• Loop line: from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay (on Lake Superior). It joins the railway to the Great Lakes waterway, so grain can travel on by ship.

• Role today: it is Canada's economic artery. Its main exports are wheat and meat.

4. Union and Pacific Railway (USA)

• Route (east to west): New York → Cleveland → Chicago → Omaha → Evans → Ogden → Sacramento → San Francisco.
• Main goods carried: ores, grain, paper, chemicals and machinery.
• History:
• The Pacific Railroad Act was passed on 1 July 1862 [3].
• The Central Pacific company built eastward from Sacramento, California. The Union Pacific company built westward from the east [3].
• The two lines met at Promontory Summit, Utah. Through traffic began on 10 May 1869 after the gold "Last Spike" (Golden Spike) was driven [3].

• It was the first continuous railway across the United States. It was built between 1863 and 1869, and thousands of Chinese workers helped build it [3].

• Timing link: 1869 is also the year the Suez Canal opened, so both routes cut world travel times in the same year.

5. Australian Trans-Continental Railway — Fig. 7.7

• Route (west to east, across the south of the continent): Perth (Indian Ocean coast) → Kalgoorlie (a gold-mining town) → Port Augusta → Broken Hill (a silver, lead and zinc town) → Sydney (Pacific coast).
• Nullarbor Plain: the line crosses this plain. It is a flat, dry, almost treeless limestone plain along the Great Australian Bight.
• North-south line: a second line links Adelaide → Alice Springs → Darwin.
• The Darwin–Alice Springs section was finished in 2003. This linked Darwin by rail to Adelaide on the south coast [7]. Through trains have run since 2004.
• (NCERT: still called a proposed line, using the old Darwin–Birdum line.)

6. Orient Express (Europe)

• Route: Paris → Strasbourg → Munich → Vienna → Budapest → Belgrade → Istanbul. Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade all lie on the Danube.
• Started: 1883.
• Time saved: it cut the London–Istanbul journey to 96 hours, down from 10 days by sea.
• Goods carried: cheese, bacon, oats, wine, fruits and machinery.
• Why it mattered: it gave a fast land link between Western Europe and the gateway to Asia (Istanbul, on the Bosphorus).

7. Trans-Asiatic / Trans-Asian Railway

• NCERT proposal (Trans-Asiatic Railway): a line from Istanbul to Bangkok through Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
• UN ESCAP Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement:
• UN ESCAP stands for United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
• It opened for signature in 2006 and came into force on 11 June 2009. This was 90 days after China became the eighth country to ratify it [2].
• The first eight countries to ratify were Cambodia, China, India, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan and Thailand. India is a party [2].
• The plan covered about 114,000 km of rail routes linking 28 countries (2009) [2].

• Aims: efficient movement of goods and passengers within Asia and between Asia and Europe, and better access to seaports for landlocked countries [2].

• What slows it down:

• Gauge breaks: neighbouring countries use different track widths, so goods must be moved between trains or the wheel sets changed at borders. For example, India's broad gauge is 1.676 m.

• Politics: tense borders, for example India–Pakistan and Myanmar's internal conflict.

• New additions: China–Europe freight trains under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now carry goods over much of the old Trans-Siberian and Central Asian corridors (see Section 12).

Prelims Hooks

• Longest double-tracked, electrified trans-continental railway: Trans-Siberian, 9,332 km (NCERT), completed 1916 [6].
• Trans-Siberian stations, west to east: St Petersburg – Moscow – Ufa – Novosibirsk – Irkutsk – Chita – Khabarovsk – Vladivostok.
• Trap: Chita = agro-centre; Irkutsk = fur centre. Do not swap them.
• Trans-Canadian loop line: Winnipeg → Thunder Bay, linking to the Great Lakes waterway.
• Last spike of the Canadian Pacific: Craigellachie, British Columbia, 7 November 1885 [4]. NCERT gives 1886.
• First US trans-continental line: completed at Promontory Summit, Utah, on 10 May 1869 [3]. Central Pacific built from Sacramento; Union Pacific built from the east.
• Australian line crosses the Nullarbor Plain. Kalgoorlie (gold) and Broken Hill (silver-lead-zinc) lie on it. The Adelaide–Alice Springs–Darwin link was completed in 2003–04 [7].
• Orient Express (1883): Paris – Strasbourg – Munich – Vienna – Budapest – Belgrade – Istanbul. London–Istanbul took 96 hours, against 10 days by sea.
• Trans-Asian Railway Agreement: opened for signature in 2006 and in force from 11 June 2009. India was among the first eight countries to ratify it [2].
• Baikal-Amur Mainline: Ust-Kut (Lena) → Komsomolsk-na-Amure (Amur), about 3,200 km, opened 1989 [5].

Mains Points

• Political role (GS-I): these railways built nations.
• The Canadian line brought British Columbia into the federation.
• The Trans-Siberian tied Russia's Pacific coast to Moscow.

• The US line joined the east and west coasts after 1869 [3].

• Economic role (GS-I): they opened remote interiors to markets.

• Siberian timber and furs reached European markets.
• Canadian prairie wheat moved through the Winnipeg–Thunder Bay loop and the Great Lakes.

• Australian mining towns such as Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill were linked to the ports.

• Limits and decline: many of these lines have lost traffic to air and road. Their goods traffic now depends on bulk freight and new corridors, such as China–Europe trains under BRI.

• Infrastructure and India (GS-III): the Trans-Asian Railway could give India a land link to Southeast Asia and West Asia [2].
• Barriers: gauge breaks, political tension with Pakistan and conflict in Myanmar.
• Possible responses: connecting through Myanmar under the Act East policy, and using alternative corridors such as INSTC (via Iran) and IMEC.