Why does India have the second largest road network in the world (after USA) when its land area is about a third of China's?

为什么印度的土地面积只有中国的三分之一，却拥有世界上第二大的公路网(仅次于美国)？

以下是Quora网友的评价：

Siddarth Krishna

India currently has 6.3 million kilometers of road networks thanks to the immense speed of roads being built under the guide of Nitin Gadkari

印度目前拥有630万公里的公路网，这要归功于尼廷·加德卡里主导的高速公路建设。

This means India has only 428,000 kilometers behind the USA’s 6.8 million kilometers of road. In the last 5 years, India has built over 563,000 kilometers of road alone, this extreme road building having helped the economy grow by 30% in just 5 years.

这意味着印度的公路长度只比美国的680万公里少了42.8万公里。在过去5年里，印度建造了超过56.3万公里的道路，这种疯狂修路的模式在短短5年内帮助经济增长了30%。

China on the other hand has about 5.2 million kilometers of road and is also considered the most well connected country on earth with all major and minor cities connected by roads.

But, China is 3x the size of India so, why don’t they have more roads? For one, China makes up for less roads by having the largest railway connection on earth and also this railway connection is mostly made up of high speed trains while only 65% of India’s railways even have the semi-high speed Vande Bharat express and the rest use average speed trains

另一方面，中国有大约520万公里的公路，被视为连通度最高的国家，所有主要城市和二线城市都可以相连通。

但是，中国的国土面积是印度的三倍，为什么他们的公路更短呢？首先，中国拥有世界上最大的铁路网，弥补了公路的不足，而且中国铁路主要运行的是高铁列车，而印度只有65%的铁路运行半高速的梵德巴拉特特快，其余都是普通列车。

This means people can get to major cities faster as those Chinese high speed railways top out at 320 km/ph when the Vande Bharat goes at a maxmum of 200 km/ph and the average locomotive between 50–80 km/ph.

So, to fully answer, the reason India has so much road network and more than China was because China also focused on railways as their a faster and cheaper alternative for cross country travel.

这意味着中国人可以更快地到达主要城市，因为中国高铁最高时速达到了320公里，而梵德巴拉特的最高时速仅为200公里，普通列车的平均时速在50-80公里之间。

所以，印度的公路网规模超过中国，是因为中国除了公路，还大力发展铁路，提供更快、更便宜的出行选择。

Steve Dutch

T iber, X injiang, Inner Mongolia and Manchuria are sparsely populated and thus have sparse road nets. The part of China that has a dense road network is roughly the same area as India.

西 藏、新 疆、内蒙古和满洲地广人稀，所以公路比较少。在中国公路网较为密集的地区，面积与印度大致相同。

Amardeep Verma

India’s population is more evenly distributed over its landmass as compared to China. China’s majority population is around its Eastern Seaboard. Roads are built to facilitate movement of goods and people, it makes no sense to build roads where there is no human habitation. That is why China’s road network is less compared to India.

But the length of road network is an incorrect metric to measure or see. It is similar to the GDP metric, when Per-capita Income is more important or relevant metric.

与中国相比，印度的人口分布更均匀。中国的大多数人口集中在东部沿海地区。公路是为了方便货物和人员的流动而修建的，在无人居住的地方修建道路没有意义。所以中国的公路里程比印度短。

但是公路里程不是一个准确的度量标准，有点类似于GDP指标，人均收入是更重要或更准确的指标。

In case of roads the following are more important than the length of the roads, which is a meaningless measure.

以公路为例，以下因素比公路里程更加重要。

Average speed of transport in km-per-hour. For example Delhi’s Average speed of travel during peak hours in 2017 was less than 25 km-per-hour[1]. In case of Bangalore a similar study in 2018 found that the average speed of travel during peak hours was about 8–10 km-per-hour.

Average load-bearing-capacity of the roads in tons. i.e. How much tons of material and goods can be moved. More tonnage means more goods can be moved in the same vehicle rather than increasing the number of vehicles. This reduces congestion as well as most of the time it is more cost-effective.

平均行驶速度，单位为公里每小时。例如，以2017年为例，德里高峰时段的平均行驶速度不足25公里/小时。2018年，针对班加罗尔的研究显示高峰时段的平均行驶速度仅为8-10公里/小时。

公路的平均承载力，单位为吨，即可以运送多少吨材料和货物。承载吨位更大意味着同一辆车可以运送更多的货物，不需要增加车辆的数量。这可以减少拥堵，也更具成本效益。

What is the throughput of the road? i.e. how many vehicles can be carried on the road and at what speed.

And the most important metric among them all what is the average cost of movement of 1 kg on the roads.

这条公路的吞吐量是多少？也就是说，公路可以通行多少辆车，以多少的速度行驶。

其中最重要的衡量标准就是路上运送1公斤物品的平均运输成本。

Kaizad Mistry

Both USA and China have almost 2.5 to 3 times more amount of land compared to India.

India as a country has a higher population density compared to China and USA.

Indian railways network is very vast .still they are many places in India where railway network cannot reach. It is not easy to build railway network every where in India like building roads. So India requires a large road network.

美国和中国的土地面积几乎是印度的2.5到3倍。

与中国和美国相比，印度的人口密度更高。

印度铁路网非常庞大，但印度仍有许多地方未能接入铁路网。和修路一样，在印度修建大型铁路网并非易事。所以，印度需要一个庞大的公路网。

With Indian population increasing it is not possible for railways to provide unlimited transport services for Indian people. So gradually India as a country has improved alot of road network since 2001

In USA people are dependent on road travel through expresshighways .American people in USA use alot of aeroplanes in America for travelling. They are many small size airports for smaller size aircraft below 100 seater below 70 seater known as aerodrome.

China has the highest network of high speed elevated maglev trains corridor in the world. USA does not have a large railway network .

随着印度人口的增加，铁路为印度人提供运输服务的能力实在有限。因此，自2001年以来，印度逐步改善了公路网络。

美国人大多依赖公路，通过高速公路出行。美国人也很依赖飞机出行。美国的机场有很多是小型机场，起降的多为100座以下，甚至70座以下的小型飞机。

中国拥有世界上最庞大的高速磁悬浮列车网络，而美国没有庞大的铁路网。

Gaurab Banerjee

Because Indians have freedom of movement throughout the country, the demand for a road network is greater. The phrase “it's a free country” has multiple implications.

因为印度人可以在全国各地自由行走，所以印度人对公路网的需求更大。“这是一个自由的国家”，这句话包含了多重含义。

Asimendrakumar Dhirendrakumar Dechaudhari

It may be because of over population. Road network has to reach each person and therefore, it has to be very long. More population means more villages and towns and localities which can be connected only by long road network. It may have to do with distribution pattern of population, forest areas, farm lands etc.

这可能是因为印度人口太多了。公路网络必须辐射到每个人，所以必然更庞大。人口规模大意味着村庄、城镇和聚居地更多，只有通过漫长的公路网络才能连接起来。这可能与人口分布、森林面积、农田等有关。

Mathew Cherian

India is probably the only nation blessed with perfect 32 degree C, climatic condition. So every part of India is habitable, and there are about 300000 towns and villages, which is unlike other nations with adverse climatic conditions and only climatic control can help citizen to survive there. So only few areas are inhabited and so only few roads are needed there.

印度可能是唯一一个拥有32摄氏度完美气候条件的国家。所以印度的各个角落都适合人类居住，印度有大约30万个城镇和村庄。其他气候条件恶劣的国家就不同了，只有少数地区适合定居，所以对公路的要求很低。

Brij Varma

India is highly populated if we compared to any other part of the world China being 3x of India in terms of land size.

Now India had been a unique country and had always had a high population compared to rest of the world & more or less the % of its population to world population had remained the same . India’s pollution has risen & so has world’s

如果和全世界相比，印度的人口最为稠密，中国的国土面积是印度的3倍。

现在，印度已经成了一个独特的国家，和其他国家相比，印度人口一直很多，占世界总人口的比例几乎一直保持不变。印度的污染越来越严重，其他国家也是如此。

India has a very high numbers of rivers across its length and bredth be it North India , Central India , East or West India OR Central India . This availability of water along with fertile land has lead to many civilization on these rivers.

Now if you compare any other county Be it Australia USA China or any other nation of substantial land mass you will find that possibility for human life and civilization exsts more in India than in any part of the world.

印度有大量的河流横跨国土，无论是印度北部、印度中部、印度东部或印度西部都是如此。丰富的水资源和肥沃的土地在这些河流两岸造就了许多文明。

现在，如果比较其他国家，无论是澳大利亚、美国、中国还是其他拥有广阔国土面积的国家，你会发现印度比世界上任何地方都更适合人类生活和人类文明。

The number of princely states, Raja Maharaja & empress the Indian is unparalleled in the world.

So now when you have so many people living in this place there is natural to have road connecting these palaces. People are present everywhere so are roads connecting them. The same is not true for China USA Russia OR Australia where there are large swaths of land un-populated and absolutely empty

印度王公和女王的数量在全世界也是无与伦比的。

所以现在有大量人口生活在这块土地，自然就需要四通八达的公路。印度人无处不在，连接他们的公路也无处不在。中国、美国、俄罗斯或澳大利亚的情况就不一样了，他们都有大片土地无人定居，空无人烟。

Gopal Das

Not only road network, in rail network also India leads among the toppers. To cater to the needs of expanding huge population with growth of urbanisation and industrial growth, infrastructure network is a must.

US is about five times bigger in land area than India whereas its population is about 32–33 crore. People in US mostly use air as mode of journey. Even just to witness a show match they use air in another city. Here road or rail journey is too much time taking. There are vast area in US are inhabited over population. by scanty population. Here air travel is convenient for long distance travel. All great cities in US are separated by vast distance. So here air travel is economical and time saving.

不仅是公路网，印度的铁路网也名列前茅。随着城市化和工业的发展，印度人口不断扩大，也就必须进行基础设施网络的建设。

美国的国土面积大约是印度的5倍，而人口仅为3.2亿至3.3亿。在美国，人们大多通过飞机出行，有时候只是为了观看表演比赛，他们也会从一个城市飞往另一个城市。在美国，通过公路和铁路出行，实在太费时了。美国有大片地区人口过剩，搭乘飞机长途出行非常方便。美国的大城市之间相距遥远，所以搭乘飞机既经济实惠又节省时间。

But in India space is small with over population. Due to short distance people use road transport and it is economical. Hence, Govt. here constructed vast network of interconnecting roads to move in any direction in the city. The Ariel view of this network of roads is like a cobweb.

In the case of China, only East China is known as business place with busy bustling city life on the brink of South China Sea. Beiing, Shanghai all are situated thereat. Hong Kong is also situated nearby.The central China is totally uninhabited arid semi desert like area. Only is west China there is some develo cities with CPEC, Karakorum highway pass from ing Jiang to Pakistan. In the extreme north in the lap of Himalaya there is Tib. It being an inhospitable terrain the roadwork can not have cobweb like formation.

但在印度，国土面积较小，而人口又过多。由于距离短，人们更愿意采用公路运输的方式，经济上也更为划算。因此，印度政府修建了庞大的公路网。从空中俯瞰，公路网就像蜘蛛网一样密匝。

对于中国，中国东部的城市较为繁华。北京、上海都位于东部，香港也临近东部。中国中部是无人居住的干旱半沙漠地区。中国西部有一些发展中城市，有中巴经济走廊，喀喇昆仑公路从中国新 疆通往巴基斯坦。在喜马拉雅山的最北端是中国西 藏。由于地形恶劣，公路不太密集。

In India unlike China mostly have plain fertile land which allowed cities and suburbs to grow with cultivable land and place for industrial growth which allowed infrastructure network to grow at a lesser cost.

印度和中国不同，印度境内拥有大量肥沃的平原土地，城市和郊区因此得到了可耕地和工业发展的空间，基础设施网络的建造成本更低。