SURFACE TRANSPORT

Transport in India is not in great shape. The number of road vehicles has increased sixfold since independence in 1947, yet the length of suitable road has only doubled.

The railways are in an equally undeveloped state, with frequent accidents because of the bad maintenance of tracks and old, occasionally decrepit, wrought iron riveted bridges.

Unfortunately, neither of these problems are being addressed. Bridge design technology is still 50 years behind what it should be and line maintenance is politically so sensitive that modernisation is being resisted.

• Highways: About 13,000km (7,800 miles) of motorway is now under construction and the national highways (35,000km/21,000 miles) are being upgraded to British A-type dual carriageway standards. This process is known as the ‘four-laning’ of the national highways.

• Intercity railways: New high-speed international gauge (1435mm / 4’8”) tracks are being planned along with associated rolling stock.

In addition, 180,000 old steel railway bridges need to be examined. Residual life in the light of modern traffic patterns is to be examined and bridges repaired if required.

• Metropolitan railways: A number of metro-rails are on the drawing board too, mainly the overhead ‘skytrain’ type. Underground electric transport is thought to be too costly and thus, with the limitations of elevated railways, a congested urban environment is ultimately likely to become even more congested. This is unfortunate, but planners are primarily concerned with costs and not with the longer-term benefits.

However, all of these transport activities will demand a very large number of bridges.

Perhaps 99% of them will be short span (25-100m) concrete or pre-stressed concrete statically determinate structures. Although more expensive and time-consuming, due to the lack of both design office knowledge and an assured supply of steel, steel and composite bridges are conspicuous by their absence.

Therefore steel producers and designers have work to do.