Transport in Himachal Pradesh

The development of tribal areas in Himachal Pradesh is one of the major steps taken by the state government for its economic development. The border districts of Kinnaur, Lahaul, Spiti and the "Pangi" and "Brahmour" tehsils of Chamba districts are the major tribal areas of the state. They are located near the borders of Tibet. Due to poor accessibility, life in these areas had grown in isolation.

History and development

Kinnaur was opened up in the early 1960s with the completion of the "Hindustan-Tibet National highway". Lahaul was opened up in the late 1960s with the construction of roads over Rohtang pass. Lahaul is only in contact due to high passes like Rohtang (4,000 m, 13,050 ft), Kunzum (4,600 m, 14,913 ft) and Baralarcha (4,300 m, 14,000 ft).
Spiti is a cold desert and is a very underdeveloped area.
The building up of an efficient transport system was the top most priority in the first "Five year plan". The state has two airports at "Bhintar" in Kullu district, and at "Jubbarhatti" near Shimla. It was only by January 1991 that Himachal was linked up with the broad gauge system by extending the "Delhi-Nangal" rail line. Although railways and airways in Himachal serve very limited transport needs of the people, the road network of the state makes it unique.

Geography

The geography of Himachal presents considerable challenge to the development of transport infrastructure. Nevertheless, the state has made significant progress in road connectivity in the last few decades. Himachal at present has the highest road density among all the hill states of India. Although Himachal also has three airports and two narrow gauge rail tracks, roads remain the main mode of transport in Himachal.

Roads

Eight national highways (NH) pass through the state with a total length of 1235 km. NH 1-A touches Shahpur. NH 20 passes through Pathankot, Chakki, Dharamsala, Nurpur and Mandi. NH 21 connects Chandigarh with Manali through Mandi. NH 22 connects Ambala with Kaurik through Kalka, Simla and Wangtoo. NH 70 passes through Mubarakpur, Amb, Nadaun and Hamirpur. NH 21-A begins at Pinjore in Haryana, passes through Nalagarh and reaches Swarghat, where it connects with NH 21. NH 88 connects Shimla with Kangra through Hamirpur and Nadaun. NH 72 begins at Ambala and passes through Amb and Paunta Sahib in Himachal before terminating at Haridwar in Uttarakhand.

In addition to the National Highways, the state also has a large mesh of highways and village roads. Most tourist spots in Himachal Pradesh such as Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala etc. are well connected by roads. Some of the roads in Himachal are seasonal and get closed during winters and monsoons due to heavy snowfall, landslides and washouts. The Manali-Leh road, for example, remains closed for most part of the winters. The World Bank has approved a loan of $ 220 million in 2007 to improve priority segments of the state road network. [cite web| url = http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21360839~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html | title= India: Himachal Pradesh State Roads Project | publisher= World Bank| accessdate=2007-06-12] [cite web| url = http://www.huliq.com/23772/world-bank-to-support-road-network-improvements-in-himachal-pradesh-india | title = World Bank to Support Road Network Improvements in Himachal Pradesh, India | accessdate=2007-06-12] The government-owned Himachal Road Transport Corporation runs a network of buses across the state and Himachal Pradesh being a major tourist destination, there is no dearth of private buses and taxis. In spite of state being hilly, district Hamirpur has got highest road density in the country.cite web
url = http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020518/himachal.htm
title = Hamirpur road density
accessdate = 2007-05-22
publisher = Hari Jaisingh, Published from The Tribune House]

Railway

Himachal has two narrow-gauge rail tracks. The Kalka-Shimla Railway track has a length of 96 kilometers. It passes through 102 tunnels and crosses 864 bridges. [Hughes, H., (1994) "Indian Locomotives Part 3, Narrow Gauge, 1863-1940." The Continental Railway Circle, Harrow, UK. ISBN 0-9521655-0-3] [cite web|url=http://india.mapsofindia.com/transportation/special-trains/kalka-shimla-railway.html|title=MapsOfIndia article on Kalka-Shimla Railway|accessdate=2007-03-13] The track has been in existence for over a century now. Panoramic Kalka-Shimla Railway known to be an engineering marvel of British India. The level of difficulty in laying of tracks could be judged by a journey in the route.

The Pathankot-Jogindernagar track has a length of about 113 kilometers.

Both these tracks are commercially unviable but are operated because of their heritage value.

Air

The three airports in Himachal Pradesh are: Shimla Airport near Shimla, Gaggal Airport near Kangra and Bhuntar Airport near Kullu. The flights operate only seasonally due to extreme weather conditions, especially during winters. All these airports have runways shorter than 4000 ft and therefore allow the operation of only the smaller aircraft such as the 18-seater Dornier & 42 seater ATR, which is the most common aircraft operating on these runways.

References

External links

* http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031104/himachal.htm#1
* http://www.shimla-travel.com/shimla_railway.shtml
* http://hill-stations-india.com/hill-trains-india/kalka-shimla-railway.html
* http://www.pearcedale.com/c&b/DL.html#indi
* [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031108/windows/main1.htm Article in The Tribune]
* [http://www.toshaliroyalview.com/shimla/travel-guide/kalka-shimla-railway-track/ Article on Kalka Shimla Rail]