That’s India now, 60 years after independence. A nation galvanised into motion with the emergence of a vibrant transport sector that is bridging distances and driving economic growth. A growth that will be powered by thousands of km of swift expressways and highways, high-speed rail networks and dedicated freight corridors, internationally comparable ports and an aviation business that is soaring to new highs.

A rosy future, but one that has for long had its wings clipped by the lethargies of public utilities and the hangover of a colonial past. India’s road sector is a case in point. When the British left the country in 1947, they left behind a mere 4 lakh km of roads that connected major industrial centres and metros, while ignoring rural areas. Hence, the strategy for road development adopted at that time was a two-pronged — improve connectivity and provide infrastructure that supported industrialisation.

However, resources were scant and the two goals became mutually conflicting. The solution was to provide both at the cost of starving both. The price was poor planning and poorer quality, with the result that roads were frequently ripped open to enable expansion. “The major change in road development came when the NHAI was constituted in1988,” says KL Thapar, director, Asian Institute of Transport Development and a former Planning Commission member. “With the emergence of a national road authority, the arbitrariness and lack of standardisation caused due to public work department (PWD) handling of road projects reduced a lot.”

The ushering in of the 8th Plan also boosted the sector, with the government offering sweeteners like customs free import of capital goods for the infrastructure sector and sops like tax holidays. The road sector’s fate was sealed in gold, with the announcement of the Golden Quadrilateral, National Highways Development Program and North-South, East-West corridors that totalled 25,000 km in length, with funding from World Bank and Asian Development Bank and a specially formed kitty replenished with a cess on petrol and diesel.

The result: a 33 lakh km road network that connects almost 60 per cent of all villages in the country, up from 45 per cent just a decade ago. The frenetic pace in road development is mirrored by an equal enthusiasm in the Railways. From a shattered system that had borne the brunt of the depression of the 1930s and the onslaught of the Second World War, rendering a major part of its assets obsolete and overused at the time of independence, the Railways have made a sharp comeback and registered a stunning financial turnaround with Rs 20,000 crore surplus this year.

Rather than expand its network (which has remained more or less stagnant since 1950, growing from 53,000 km to 63,000 km currently), the railways embarked upon a plan of electrification in the 1960s, seeking to phase out old steam locomotives. At the same time, it also set up wagon and locomotive manufacturing facilities in places like Benaras and Chennai, obviating the need for imports that had earlier been the norm. In the 1970s, the emphasis turned to replacing wooden 4-wheeler wagons with the now-prevalent box wagons and later, a uni-gauge policy was embraced.

With an expectation that 8,400 million passengers would use the railways by 2011-12, the railways have now put into motion an action plan that would see investments of Rs 3.5 lakh crore flowing in for the development of a dedicated freight corridor and a high speed rail link that would compete with low-cost airlines. Up in the skies, another tale was scripting itself. In early 1948, a joint sector company Air India International was established by the Indian government, with a fleet of three Lockheed constellation aircraft that flew four times a week between Mumbai and London and twice between Mumbai and Nairobi.

However, with the financial health of aviation companies running into troubled waters, the government merged and nationalised them in the 1950s. Not much changed until the 1990s, when an open-sky policy that allowed airtaxi operators to run from any airport and decide their own schedules, came into effect. The revolution started soon after, with the emergence of the budget airline concept initiated by players like Air Deccan, opening up the skies to a large number of Indians for the first time.

At the same time, activity on the high seas notched up to cruise speed, with the Centre launching an ambitious Maritime Development Programme that will see investments of Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years. A rosy future for a sector that will wheel the nation ahead. Only if we keep on track.