Explain Golden Quadrilateral.
Ans.   The Golden Quadrilateral is a highway network in India connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, thus forming a quadrilateral of sorts. it is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), and consists of building 5,846 kilometres of four/six lane express highways at a cost of ` 60,000 crores (US$ 12.317 billion at 1999 prices). As of 2008, while the Golden Quadrilateral makes up under 2 percent ofIndia’s road network, it carries about 40% of the country’s traffic. As of February 2010, 5766 km of the entire work has been completed and work on remaining 80 km is under progress. The GO project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the first controlled-access toll road to be built in India is a part of the GO Project though not funded by NHAI, and separate from the main highway. Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has been one of the major contributors to the infrastructural development activity in the GO project.
           Benefits :
- The GQ project establishes better and faster transport networks between many major cities and ports.
- It provides an impetus to smoother movement of products and people within India.
- It enables industrial and job development in smaller towns through access to markets.
- It provides opportunities for farmers through better transportation of produce from the agricultural hinterland to major cities and ports for export, through lesser wastage and spoils.
- It drives economic growth directly through construction as well as through indirect demand for cement, steel and other construction materials Network of highways
Only National Highways are used in the Golden Quadrilateral. The four legs use the following National Highways:
- Delhi — Kolkata: NH 2
- Delhi — Mumbai: NH 8 (Delhi — Kishangarh), NH 79A (Ajmer bypass), NH 79 (Nasirabad — Chittaurgarh), NH 76 (Chittaurgarh — Udaipur), NH 8 (Udaipur — Mumbai)
- Mumbai — Chennai: NH 4 (Mumbai — Bangalore), NH 7 (Bangalore — Krishnagiri), NH 46 (Krishnagin — Ranipet), NH 4 (Ranipet — Chennai)
- Kolkata — Ch’ennal: NH 6 (Kolkata — Kharagpur), NH 60 (Kharagpur — Balasore), NH 5 (Balasore — Chennai)
The double-stack rail cars design significantly reduces damage in transit and provides greater cargo security by cradling the lower containers so their doors cannot be opened. A succession of large, new domestic container sizes was introduced to increase shipping productivity.
A well car, also known as a double-stack car or stack car, is a type of railroad car specially designed to carry intermodal containers (shipping containers) used in intermodal freight transport. The “well” is a depressed section which sits close to the rails between the wheel trucks of the car, allowing a container to be carried lower than on a traditional flatcar. This makes it possible to carry a stack of two containers per unit on railway lines where the loading gauge assures sufficient clearance. The top container is held in place either by a bulkhead built into the car, or through the use of inter-box connectors.
14 Comments