What is land transport?
Land transport is an activity that takes place on land and is associated with the transportation of passengers or cargo over any distance. It must take place only on land, i.e. on a land route, and involves rail, road, and special transport. It takes place on roads and rails and therefore uses railroads, trucks, and passenger vehicles such as buses, passenger railroads, and streetcars. Land transportation in many countries is one of the important industries that act as a bloodstream.
Types of land transport
Land transport can take place in the transportation of cargo by rail, car, or so-called special transport.
In the case of rail transport, we are talking about the transportation of cargo or people in specially designed wagons that are pulled by a locomotive and run on steel rails. It is a very economically viable transportation, but very high input costs are the most common barrier for businesses and carriers. Rail transportation allows you to carry any amount of cargo over really long distances with the ability to flip them across continents in the case of Europe and Asia.
Road transport is the transportation of cargo or passengers on paved roads. Road transport uses cars, vans, buses, and tractor-trailers. Road transport has a very low cost and its delivery can not only be fast but it can also be delivered right to your door. Road vehicles have a limited capacity and the completion of transport is dependent on many random factors on the road.
Special transport is carried out by oil pipelines, pipelines, conveyor belts, and electric traction. Most often this route is taken by raw materials, which arrive directly at the company warehouses from the place of their extraction.
Land transport and other areas of life
Land transport is the most popular form of delivering goods and it takes place on most relations. It is strongly connected to any national economy and forms its basic bloodstream. Such transportation can take place in small relationships: city, community, national and international. Well-designed land routes not only contribute to the industry but also push the development of technology and the use of even more economically viable vehicles and spare parts. Currently, ground transportation is undergoing a technological transformation and is abandoning oil, which was the primary energy resource along with electricity and coal, for environmental reasons. Potential candidates to take over oil's former position are ecologically produced electricity and hydrogen. Transportation as an industry provides employment for many people, not only in trucking companies but also in construction companies repairing road and rail routes and road vehicle manufacturers.
Costs associated with land transport
The costs of road transport consist not only of direct funds associated with the purchase of vehicles but also many indirect costs. These are all costs incurred by transport companies, where it is necessary to pay not only the salaries of drivers but also forwarding agents, costs related to customs formalities, and fees resulting from the use of transport infrastructure. In the case of road transport, there are tolls for entering freeways, expressways, city center tolls, and carnet systems allowing to move around the road network of a given country. Passenger and freight rail operators have to pay a special fee to the national railroad authority of the country in question for each journey of their train from A to B.
Land transport and the environment
The transport industry is currently experiencing a number of problems mainly related to the deteriorating state of the environment, the emergence of smog in the winter months, as well as changes in human behavior related to moving longer or closer distances. Ground transportation is facing a green revolution, where costs need to be shifted to develop new technologies, use much lighter vehicles, and recycle raw materials to produce new vehicles from old parts.
Land transport is a vital industry that is an important bloodstream for industry and many countries.
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