REVOLUTION IN TRANSPORTATION

IN many ways, innovations are happening in the transportation sector to such an extent that a revolution is evidently taking place. Transport is no more merely moving people and goods from one place to another. Transportation in the early 21st Century requires us to be very conscious of complexity on many dimensions. In this century, transportation has become complex because of the many variables, namely socio-technical matters in particular, environmental concerns.

 

We need to be concerned with noise and air pollution. The government needs to allow for the growth of the transportation sectors and consequently produce policies to improve the well beings of those who live in urban areas facing the heavy traffic daily. Passenger and commercial vehicles will continue to increase in tandem with the increase in population, thus what is needed is a policy allowing for growth with reduced environmental impacts.

 Learning from Nature for Noise Problem

The Shinkansen Bullet Train of the West Japan Railway Company is the fastest train in the world, travelling 200 m.p.h. The problem is the noise. Air pressure changes produced large thunder claps every time the train emerged from a tunnel, causing residents 500 m away to complain.

Eiji Nakatsu, the train’s chief engineer modeled the front-end of the train after the beak of king­ shers, which dive from the air into bodies of water with very little splash to catch fish, resulted not only in a quieter train, but also reduced the electricity consumption by 15% even while the train is speeding 10% faster.

Transportation has to respond to major environmental concerns in particular air pollution as well. If Malaysia is to reduce carbon footprint by 40% by 2020, a relook at the transportation sector is needed. It seems that a major portion of CO2 emission is due to vehicles. A green revolution in transportation is indeed imminent.

The growth of the transportation industry in particular, the  heavy goods vehicles (HGV) which uses diesel engines has lead to the increase in emission of green house gases (GHG), in particular carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Transportation has contributed signi­ cantly to these gases which contribute to climate change caused by the increase in temperature worldwide.

A slight increase in temperature may cause signi­ficant climate change because it involves the mass of air over the globe rather than mass of air in a room. An increase in temperature causes an increase in sea levels worldwide and a reduction of crop productivity.

There are many ways to reduce air pollution and some are already taking place. Reduction in traffic congestion can be achieved by having smart partnership between the road and railways. By taking lorries off the roads, it not only reduces air pollution but also accidents.

Public transportation which is already in place should be improved. Using an alternative mode like bicycling will help to mitigate the problem of congestion. Infrastructure for public use of bicycles is to be provided so that it will encourage the use of such practices.