Chapter one: Introduction to Transportation Systems

1.1 History of Transportation

Human’s first means of transport was walking and
swimming. Using domestic animals play large role for
transportation during early ages of transportation history,
allows heavier loads to be hauled, or humans to ride the
animals for higher speed and duration. Inventions such as the
wheel and sled helped make animal transport more efficient through the introduction of vehicles. Also
water transport, including rowed and sailed vessels, dates back to time immemorial, and was the only
efficient way to transport large quantities or over large distances prior to the Industrial Revolution.

The first forms of road transport were horses, oxen or even humans carrying goods over dirt tracks that
often followed game trails. Paved roads were first built by the Roman Empire, to allow armies to
travel quickly; they built deep roadbeds of crushed stone as an underlying layer to ensure that they
kept dry, as the water would flow out from the crushed stone, instead of becoming mud in clay soils.
The first water craft were canoes cut out from tree trunks. Early water transport was accomplished
with ships that were either rowed or used the wind for propulsion, or a combination of the two. Until
the Industrial Revolution, transport remained slow and costly, and production and consumption were
located as close to each other as feasible.

The Industrial Revolution in the 19th century saw a number of inventions fundamentally change
transport. The invention of the steam engine, closely followed by its application in rail transport, made
land transport independent of human or animal muscles. Both speed and capacity increased rapidly,
allowing specialization through manufacturing being located independent of natural resources. The
19th century also saw the development of the steam ship that sped up global transport.

The development of the combustion engine and the automobile at the turn into the 20th century, road
transport became more viable, allowing the introduction of mechanical private transport. The first
highways were constructed during the 19th century with macadam. In 1903, the first controllable
airplane was invented, and after World War I, it became a fast way to transport people and express
goods over long distances.

After World War II, the automobile and airlines took higher shares of transport, reducing rail and
water to freight and short-haul passenger. Space flight was launched in the 1950s, with rapid growth
until the 1970s, when interest dwindled. In the 1950s, the introduction of containerization gave
massive efficiency gains in freight transport, permitting globalization. International air travel became
must more accessible in the 1960s, with the commercialization of the jet engine. Along with the
growth in automobiles and motorways, this introduced a decline for rail and water transport. After the
introduction of the Shinkansen in 1964, high-speed rail in Asia and Europe started taking passengers
on long-haul routes from airlines.

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1.2 Introduction to Transportation Systems
Transportation refers to the movement of person and/or goods by various means from place to place
for some particular purposes. Transport is performed by various modes, such as air, rail, road, water,
cable, pipeline and space. It is also Safe, efficient, reliable, and sustainable movement of persons
and goods over time and space.

A transportation system may be defined as: a planned network of elements or physical components
that play different roles in the transportation of goods and persons from one place to another.

The transport system consisted of three components physical elements (infrastructure, vehicles i.e.
motorized or non-motorized, equipment, and control and communication), human resources
(operators i.e. for operation of transportation system) and operations (schedule, rules and regulations).

Infrastructure consists of the fixed installations necessary for transport, and may be roads, railways,
airways, waterways, canals and pipelines, and terminals(i.e. airports, railway stations, bus stations,
warehouses, trucking terminals), refueling depots (including fueling docks and fuel stations) and
seaports. Terminals may both be used for interchange of passengers and cargo, and for maintenance.

Vehicles traveling on these networks include vehicles of appropriate types such as automobiles,
bicycles, buses, trains, trucks, helicopters and aircraft.

Operations deal with the way the vehicles are operated, and the procedures set for this purpose
including financing, legalities and policies. In the transport industry, operations and ownership of
infrastructure can be either public or private, depending on the country and mode.

Passenger transport may be public, where operators provide scheduled services, or private. Freight
transport has become focused on containerization, although bulk transport is used for large volumes of
durable items. Transport plays an important part in economic growth and globalization, but has a
deteriorating impact on the environment. While it is heavily subsidized by governments, good
planning of transport is essential to make traffic flow, and restrain urban sprawl.

Transportation Engineering is one of a specialty area of Civil Engineering concerned on: Planning,
Design, Construction, Traffic operations and managements, and Maintenance of transport
systems.

Transportation planning deals with the selection of projects for design and construction. The
transportation planner begins by defining the problem, gathering and analyzing data and evaluating
various alternative solutions. Also involve in the process of forecasting future traffic, estimate of
impact of the facility on land use, the environment, and the community and determination of the
benefits and cost that will result if the project is built.

Transportation design involves the specification of all features of the transportation system so that it
will function smoothly, efficiently and in accordance with physical laws. For a highway the design
process involves:-

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  The selection of dimension for all geometric features, such as
 Longitudinal profile
 Vertical curve and elevation
 Highway cross-section like, pavement width, shoulders, drainage ditches, and fencing.
 Design of pavement
 Provision for traffic control device, road side area and land escapes.

Transportation construction is closely related to design and involves all aspects of the building
process:-

 Beginning with clearing the native soil

 Preparation of the surface
 Placement of the pavement material, and
 Preparation of the final road for use by traffic

Traffic Operation involves the integration of vehicles, driver, pedestrian, and road characteristics to
improve the safety and capacity of the streets and highways. Among the elements of concern are:-
Traffic accident analyses, Parking, Traffic Loading, Design of terminal facilities, Markings, Traffic
signals and Speed regulation.

Maintenance involves all the work necessary to ensure the highway system is kept in proper working
order. Such as: pavement patching, Repair, Overlay, Redesign of existing structure and etc.

1.3 Role of Transport

Followings are the points of importance of transport.
A. Makes available raw materials to manufacturers or producers : Transport makes it possible to
carry raw materials from places where they are available, to places where they can be processed
and assembled into finished goods.
B. Makes available goods to customers : Transport makes possible movement of goods from one
place to another with great ease and speed. Thus, consumers spread in different parts of the
country have the benefit of consuming goods produced at distant places.
C. Enhances standard of living: Easy means of transport facilitates large-scale production at low
costs. It gives consumers the choice to make use of different quantities of goods at different prices.
So it raises the standard of living of the people.
D. Helps during emergencies and natural disasters : In times of national crisis, due to war or
internal disturbance, transport helps in quick movement of troops and the supplies needed in the
operation.
E. Helps in creation of employment: Transport provides employment opportunity to individuals as
drivers, conductors, pilots, cabin crew, captain of the ship, etc. who are directly engaged in
transport business. It also provides employment to people indirectly in the industries producing
various means of transport and other transport equipments. People can also provide repairing and
maintenance services by opening service centers at convenient locations.

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F. Helps in labor mobility: Transport helps a lot in providing mobility to workers. You may be
aware that people from our country go to foreign countries to work in different industries and
factories. It is not always possible to have workers near the factory. Most industries have their own
transport system to bring the workers from where they reside to the place of work.
G. Helps in bringing nations together: Transport facilitates movement of people from one country
to another. It helps in exchange of cultures, views and practices between the people of different
countries. This brings about greater understanding among people and awareness about different
countries. Thus, it helps to promote a feeling of international brotherhood.
 Generally The role of transportation is pervasive in all aspects of human activities. And it
contributes to the economic, agricultural, industrial, trade and social development of a country.
 The importance of transport of a country is comparable to the veins in human body. Just as veins in
the human body maintains health by circulation of blood to different parts of a body similarly
means of transport keep the health of a nation in good conditions by keeping the goods and people
moving from one place to other place.
 Transportation is vital for the all-road development of a nation or region since every commodity
needs transport facilitates at all phases of economic activity; at the supply stage, at the production
stage and as well as destination stage. Thus an economical, efficient, effective and adequate system
of transportation is essential

1.4 Different Modes of Transport

A mode of transport is a technological solution that used a fundamentally different vehicle,
infrastructure and operations. The transport of a person or cargo may be by one or more modes, the
latter called intermodal transport. Each mode has its advantages and disadvantages, and will be chosen
for a trip depended on the nature of the purpose, cargo and destination. While there transport in air and
on water has their own mode, land transport has several modes (road and rail)

1.4.1 Human-Powered Transport

Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods using human muscle-power. Even
if modern technology has allowed machines to enhance human-power, like animal-powered transport,
human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and
swimming. It also includes using of non-motorized vehicles like cycles. Many forms of human-
powered transport remain popular for reasons of cost-saving, leisure, physical exercise and
environmentalism. Human-powered transport is sometimes the only type available, especially in
underdeveloped or inaccessible regions. It is considered an ideal form of sustainable transportation.

Although humans are able to walk without infrastructure, the transport can be enhanced through the
use of roads, especially when enforcing the human power with vehicles, such as bicycles and inline
skates.

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 Figure 1.1: Human powered transport system

1.4.2 Animal-Powered Transport

Animal-powered transport is the use of working animals for the movement of people and goods.
Humans may ride some of the animals directly, use them as pack animals for carrying goods, or
harness them, alone or in teams, to pull (drawn) wheeled vehicles. Animals are superior to people in
their speed, endurance and carrying capacity; prior to the Industrial Revolution they were used for all
land transport impracticable for people, and they remain an important mode of transport in less
developed areas of the world.

Figure 1.2: Transportation on pack animal (both human and freight)

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1.4.3 Road Transport
A road is an identifiable route, way or path between two or more places. Roads are typically
smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel; though they need not be, and historically
many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance.

Road transport is a flexible and versatile mode of transport (flexible because it offers point to point
service between any origin-destination; versatile because it can transport products of varying size and
weight). In addition it provides fast and reliable service

In urban areas, roads may pass through a city or village and be named as streets, serving a dual
function as urban space easement and route. The most common road vehicle is the automobile (urban);
a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. Other users of roads include buses, trucks,
motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians.

Automobiles offer high flexibility and with low capacity, but are deemed with high energy
consumption and area use, and they are the main source of noise and air pollution in cities; buses allow
for more efficient travel at the cost of reduced flexibility. Road transport by truck is often the initial
and final stage of freight transport.

Figure 1.3: Road transportation system

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Advantages of Road transport
(i) It is a relatively cheaper mode of transport as compared to other modes.
(ii) Perishable goods can be transported at a faster speed by road carriers over a short distance.
(iii) It is a flexible mode of transport as loading and unloading is possible at any destination. It
provides door-to-door service.
(iv) It helps people to travel and carry goods from one place to another, in places which are not
connected by other means of transport like hilly areas.

Limitations of Road transport

(i) Due to limited carrying capacity road transport is not economical for long distance
transportation of goods.
(ii) Transportation of heavy goods or goods in bulk by road involves high cost.
(iii) It is affected by adverse weather conditions. Floods, rain, landslide

1.44 Airways
Air transport is the fastest growing mode, in the areas of both passengers and freight transport. The
aircraft is the second fastest method of transport, after the rocket. Commercial jets can reach up to 875
kilometers per hour (544 mph), single-engineaircraft175 kilometers per hour (109 mph). Aviation is
able to quickly transport people and limited amounts of cargo over longer distances, but incur high
costs and energy use; for short

1.4: Air transport [Ethiopian aviation airplane]

Advantages of Air transport

i. It is the fastest mode of transport

ii. It is very useful in transporting goods and passengers to the area, which are not accessible
by any other means.
iii. It is the most convenient mode of transport during natural calamities.
iv. It provides vital support to the national security and defense.

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Limitations of air transport
i. It is relatively more expensive mode of transport.
ii. It is not suitable for transporting heavy and bulky goods.
iii. It is affected by adverse weather conditions.
iv. It is not suitable for short distance travel.
v. In case of accidents, it results in heavy losses of goods, property and life.
1.4.5 Railways

Rail transport is where train runs along a two parallel steel rails, known as a railway or railroad. They
rails are anchored perpendicular to cross ties (or sleepers) of timber, concrete or steel, to maintain a
consistent distance apart, or gauge.

A train consists of one or more connected vehicle that run on the rails. Propulsion is commonly
provided by a locomotive that hauls a series of unpowered cars, which can carry passengers or freight.
The locomotive can be powered by steam, diesel or by electricity supplied by a trackside systems.
Railed vehicles move with much less friction than rubber tires on paved roads, making trains more
energy efficient, though not as efficient as ships.

Intercity trains are long-haul services connecting cities; modern high-speed rail is capable of speeds up
to or greater than 350 km/h (220 mph), but this requires specially-built track. Freight trains
traditionally used box cars, requiring manual loading and unloading of the cargo.

Figure 1.5: Intercity Express, a German high-speed passenger train

Advantages of Rail transport

(i) It is a convenient mode of transport for travelling long distances.

(ii) It is relatively faster than road transport.
(iii) It is suitable for carrying heavy goods in large quantities over long distances.
(iv) Its operation is less affected by adverse weathers conditions like rain, floods, fog, etc.

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Limitations of Railway transport

(i) It is relatively expensive for carrying goods and passengers over short distances.
(ii) It is not available in remote parts of the country.
(iii) It provides service according to fixed time schedule and is not flexible for loading or
unloading of goods at any place.
(iv) It involves heavy losses of life as well as goods in case of accident

1.4.6 Water ways

Water transport refers to movement of goods and passengers on waterways (sea, ocean, lake, canal or
river) by using various means like boats, steamers, launches, ships, etc. With the help of these means
goods and passengers are carried to different places, both within as well as outside the country. Within
the country, rivers and canals facilitate the movement of boats, launches, etc. Since the goods and
passengers move inside the country, this type of transport is called inland water transport. When the
different means of transport are used to carry goods and passengers on the sea route it is termed as
ocean transport.
Inland water transport
Inland water transport use boats, launches, barges, streamers, etc., to carry goods and passengers on
river and canal routes. These routes are called inland waterways and are used in domestic or home
trade to carry bulky goods.
Ship transport (Ocean transport)
Although slow, modern sea transport is a highly effective method of transporting large quantities of
non-perishable goods. Transport by water is significantly less costly than air transport for trans-
continental shipping; short sea shipping and ferries remain viable in coastal areas.

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 Figure 1.6: Transport by water (Lake Tana)

Advantages of water transport

a. It is a relatively economical mode of transport for bulky and heavy goods.
b. It is a safe mode of transport with respect to occurrence of accidents.
c. The cost of maintaining and constructing routes is very low as most of them are naturally made.
d. It promotes international trade.
Limitations of water transport
a. The depth and navigability of rivers and canals vary and thus, affect operations of different
transport vessels.
b. It is a slow moving mode of transport and therefore not suitable for transport of perishable goods.
c. It is adversely affected by weather conditions

1.4.7 Pipeline Transport

Pipeline transport sends goods through a pipe, most commonly liquid and gases are sent, but
pneumatic tubes can send solid capsules using compressed air. Water supply to residential and
commercial areas is carried on with the help of pipeline. In addition any chemically stable liquid or
gas can be sent through a pipeline. Short-distance systems exist for sewage, slurry, water and beer,
while long-distance networks are used for petroleum and natural gas.

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 Figure 1.7: Pipeline for crude oil

Cable transport is a broad mode where vehicles are pulled by cables instead of an internal power
source. It is most commonly used at steep gradient. Typical solutions include aerial tramway,
elevators, escalator and ski lifts; some of these are also categorized as conveyor transport.

Space flight is transport out of Earth's atmosphere into outer space by means of a spacecraft. While
large amounts of research have gone into technology, it is rarely used except to put satellites into orbit,
and conduct scientific experiments. However, man has landed on the moon, and probes have been sent
to all the planets of the Solar System.

I.5 Physical Elements for Transportation

I. Infrastructure
It is the fixed installations that allow a vehicle to operate. It consists of away, terminal and facilities
for parking and maintenance. For rail, pipeline, road and cable transport, the entire way the vehicle
travels must be built up. Air and water craft are able to avoid this, since the airway and seaway do not
need to be built up. However, they require fixed infrastructure at terminals.
Terminals such as airports, ports and stations, are locations were passengers and freight can be
transferred from one mode to another. For passenger transport, terminals are integrating different
modes to allow riders to interchange to take advantage of each mode's advantages. For instance,
airport rail links connect airports to the city centers and suburbs. The terminals for automobiles are
parking lots, while buses and coaches can operates from simple stops. For freight, terminals act as
transshipment points, though some cargo is transported directly from the point of production to the
point of use.

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 Figure 1.8: Infrastructure (travel ways) for road, railway and water transport
II. Vehicle
A vehicle is any non-living devise that is used to move people and goods. Unlike the infrastructure, the
vehicle moves along with the cargo and riders. Vehicles that do not operate on land are usually called
crafts.

Figure 1.9: vehicle of different transportation modes

Comparison of different Modes of transport in terms of economic characteristics and service

characteristics

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Table 1.1: Comparison of different Modes of transport in terms of economic characteristics

Economic Modes of transport

characteristics Road Rail Air water Pipeline

Cost Moderate Low High Low Low

Market Point to Terminal to Terminal to Terminal to Terminal to

coverage point terminal terminal terminal terminal

Degree of
Many Few Moderate Few Few
competition

Low- moderate
Predominant High value, low- Low value, Low value,
All type value, moderate-
traffic moderate density high density high density
high density

Table 1.2: Comparison of different Modes of transport in terms of service characteristics

Modes of transport
Service characteristics
Road Rail Air water Pipeline
Moderate-
Speed (time in transit) Moderate Fast Slow Slow
Fast
Availability High Moderate Moderate Low Low

Consistency Moderate Low to

High High High
(delivery time variability) to high moderate
Low to
Loss and damage Low Moderate Low Low
moderate
Flexibility (adjustment to Moderate Low to
High Moderate Low
customers) to high moderate

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