UPSC Prelims 2007·GS1·geography·human and economic geography

A train completes a journey with a few stoppages in between at an average speed of 40 km per hour. If the train had not stopped anywhere, it would have completed the journey at an average speed of 60 km per hour. On an average, how many minutes per hour does the train stop during the journey?

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Last updated 23 May 2026, 3:31 pm IST
  1. A20 minutes per hourCorrect
  2. B18 minutes per hour
  3. C15 minutes per hour
  4. D10 minutes per hour

Explanation

The difference in speed is due to the stoppages. Speed without stoppages = 60 km/hr Speed with stoppages = 40 km/hr The loss in speed per hour = 60 km/hr - 40 km/hr = 20 km/hr. This means that for every hour the train is on its journey (including stoppages), it effectively loses 20 km of distance it could have covered if it hadn't stopped. To find out how much time it takes to cover this "lost" 20 km at the non-stop speed: Time = Distance / Speed Time = 20 km / 60 km/hr = 1/3 hour. Convert 1/3 hour to minutes: (1/3) * 60 minutes = 20 minutes. So, the train stops for 20 minutes per hour during the journey. The final answer is A) 20 minutes per hour.
geography: A train completes a journey with a few stoppages in between at an average speed of 40 km per hour. If the train had not
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