2018-02-13
1830
2. Answer the following questions:
1. Have you ever travelled by Eurostar trains? What did you know about travelling through the Channel Tunnel before reading this text?
2. Would you like to try travelling through the Chunnel?
3. In what way does Eurostar train travel differ from conventional train travel?
3. Write an essay on the following topic: “Risks and benefits of travelling by Eurostar.”
Text 6.TRAVELLING BY TRAIN
Traveling through Europe by train offers convenient, efficient, dependable and economical transportation which is additionally exciting and educational -- altogether memorable - but tiring! A network connects all the major cities and many smaller towns and villages. Main stations are centrally located and contain many amenities: post offices, change banks, even showers -sometimes. Fuel efficient trains travel at the average speed of 80 MPH, so they get you there fast. Intercity trains have very frequent departures—40 or more daily direct trains between Cologne and Frankfurt, for example. The West German railroad system, before the reunification, had a 15,000 mile network alone serving 6,500 destinations,
Thus hundreds of people may speed across Europe together, enjoying the passing scenery (often spectacular). Most trams are so dependable you can set your watch by them, making them the most popular way for commuters to get to work. Long distance travelers can count on arriving and departing on schedule 90 per cent of the time. This makes for group travellers, imperative that you know departure times. You'll be given a train schedule before leaving, keep that and your countermark with you at all times!
If your leader tells you to be at a certain spot in a given station, BE THERE. (If you miss a connection the cost of meeting up with your group is your own.) The counter-mark ticket you'll be given is good only when you are with your leader.
We reserve seats for all our groups, but occasionally, complications arise (often in Italy or Eastern Europe) and someone eke will be in your seat. Please be patient. We may book night trains to save on hotel costs and to maximize daytime sightseeing. Couchettes are economical sleeping accommodations which allow you to lie down and most persons sleep quite well.
DO NOT go to sleep in a compartment by yourself; they do not lock so there is no sure way to guard against robbery. Keep valuables on your person at all times; don't sleep with them in plain view.
Be sure to wear comfortable and durable clothing and shoes. Buying food and drink on the trains. Remember, tap water on trains is not drinkable, it is costly, so pick up light supplies before you get to the station. Many Europeans hospitably share their food with seat mates; it is always nice to be able to reciprocate.
If you enjoy meeting and talking to new people, this mode of travel is for you. Most Europeans like to find out where you are from, what you do, and what your political opinions are. It is always a good idea to bring something to read or a game to play for occasional dull times.
Think ahead about a railway pass for travel at semester's end: most can only be purchased outside of Europe. Choices include: Eurail, BritRail, France Vacancies, Interrail, German Rail among others. The Eurail pass is the most popular, good tor unlimited rail travel throughout 17 European countries — and the number of countries being added to the list grows all the time.
There are some new 'Flexi Passes" which allow you to travel alone or in groups of three for a certain number of days within a prescribed period of time. Our office has details on all these tickets.
Think before buying. The value of the pass depends on the distance you travel: calculations below are based on 1986 prices. The cost of first-class rail tickets in northern Europe averages 25 cents per mile, so you'd have to go more than 1300 miles-about the round-trip distance between Pans and Barcelona-before the pass would pay. If you buy second-class rail tickets-at about 15 cents per mile-you'd have to travel 2000 miles or more to justify the pass. That's about the round-trip distance between Copenhagen and Zurich. Consider, too that rail fares are often lower in Greece. Italy. Portugal, and Spain. and that the pass is useless in most of Eastern Europe. (The former East Germany and Hungary are now on Eurail.)
As always, on trains you should represent yourself well: be courteous, avoid drinking, excessive noise and never put your feet on seats.
Remember Eurail Passes are not valid in Britain (though they work in Ireland). With or without a pass, all seats on I.C. or other express trains are subject to an additional charge (in Germany, for example the "Zuschlag" is between 5 and 10DM).Very often substantial discounts are available for those who travel in groups of three or more. This is especially true for those with valid international student I.D.'s. Be sure to ask when you book your tickets.
WHAT TO DO:
Make up a list of words to deal with the topic “Travelling by train”.
Make a list of points to do with the topic.
3. Answer the following questions:
1. Do you know that unattended luggage can be removed?
2. Is there light train in Moscow?
3. Can you guess what kind of doors slide along and then pull inwards towards the coach to close?
4. Do you prefer forward facing seats or take a seat with your back to the engine?
5. Do you usually get on the line for tickets or jump the queue?
6. Speak about advantages and disadvantages of travelling by train.
Text 7.BRITISH RAIL
British Railways (BR), later rebranded as British Rail, ran the British railway system from the nationalization of the "Big Four" British Railway companies in 1948 until its privatization in stages between 1994 and 1997.
This period saw massive changes in the nature of the railway network: steam traction was eliminated in favour of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and the network was severely rationalised.
The rail transport system in Great Britain developed during the 19th century. After the grouping of 1923 by the Railways Act 1921 there were four large British railway companies, each dominating its own geographic area. These were The Great Western Railway (GWR), The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR).
The London Underground and the Glasgow Subway were independent concerns and there were a small number of independent light railways and industrial railways, which did not contribute significant mileage to the system. Neither were non-railway- owned tramways considered part of the system.
During the Second World War the railways were taken into state control. They were heavily damaged by enemy action and were run down aiding the war effort.
The Transport Act 1947 made provision for the nationalization of the network, as part of a policy of nationalizing public services by Clement Attlee's Labour Government. British Railways came into existence on 1 January 1948 with the merger of the Big Four, under the control of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission.
The new system was split geographically into six regions along the lines of the Big Four.
-Eastern Region (ER)
-North Eastern Region (NER)
-London Midland Region (LMR)
-Scottish Region
-Southern Region
-Western Region
These regions would form the basis of the BR business structure until the 1980s.
After the Second World War, Britain's railways fell behind others in the world. Countries like Japan, USA and France were experimenting with new diesels and electrics. Britain wasn't, and the run down network deteriorated even more because of painfully slow rebuilding. Finally came the modernization plan for Britain's railways. It cost the government much more than it should have, because of bad timing.
The 1955 Modernisation Plan, detailed in the British Transport Commission's (BTC) Modernisation and Re-equipment of British Railways, argued for spending one million two hundred forty million pounds over a period of 15 years. Services were to be made more attractive to passengers and freight operators, thus recovering traffic which was being lost to the roads. There were three important areas:
- Electrification of principal routes
- Large- scale introduction of diesel and electric traction with new coaching stock to replace steam locomotives
- Resignalling and track renewal
However, the Modernisation Plan failed to take into account the effect that mass road transport would have upon traditional role of the railways, and as a result much money was wasted by heavy investment in things like marshalling yards, at a time when small wagon- load traffic was in rapid decline. The failure of the Modernisation Plan led to a distrust of British Rail's financial planning abilities by the Treasury which was to dog BR for the rest of its existence.
In 1960s also saw the "Great Locomotive Cull", with mass withdrawals of steam types, and their replacement with diesels, fewer of which were needed on the shrinking system.
From 1958 to 1974 the West Coast Main Line was electrified in stages at the French voltage of 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line electrification. Many commuter lines around London and Glasgow were also electrified. However electrification never reached system-wide level as on many other European railways.
Steam traction on British Railways ended in August 1968 after the system was rebranded British Rail. This introduced the double-arrow logo, still used by National Rail to represent the industry as a whole (though some cynics claimed the logo meant the railway "didn't know if it was coming or going"); the standardized typeface used for all communications and signs; and the rail blue livery which applied to nearly all locomotives and rolling stock.
In 1973 the system for classifying motives was introduced, and is the basis of the classification system. Also during this time, yellow warning panels, characteristic of British railways, were added to the front of diesel and electric locomotives in order to increase the safety of track workers.
In the 1980s the regions of BR were abolished and the system was sectorised into five sectors. The passenger sectors were InterCity (express services), Network SouthEast (London commuter services) and Regional railways (regional services). The maintenance and remaining engineering works were split off into a new company, BRML (British Rail Maintenance Limited).
Under John Major's Conservative Government's Railways Act 1993 British Rail was split up and privatized. This was a continuation of the policy of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government's privatization of publicly- owned services.
BR was privatized within the business structure that was in place. Passenger services within the business structure that was in each sector were franchised out to private companies, mostly by bus operators. National Rail was created to organize ticketing.
Privatization has had mixed results. Passenger growth has been stimulated, but this had been at extra cost to the taxpayer and passengers, who have seen steady fare increases since 1997. Freight has also been increased.
Railtrack's management proved to be incompetent and the Labour government refused to continue to subsidise the losses of shareholders. It went insolvent, was put in receivership and was placed by a not-for-profit publicly owned Network Rail. Some saw this as the first step towards renationalisation.
There has been some controversy over the decision to withhold subsidies from Railtrack, which forced it to become insolvent. Recent press reports have indicated that the then transport minister Stephen Byers deliberately forced the company to become insolvent, as this would remove any obligation on the government to provide compensation to Rail tracks' shareholders, who would lose their investment.
Up to the current moment, the BR network, with the trunk routes of the West Coast Main Line, East Coast Main Line, Great Western Main Line and Midland Main Line, remains unchanged.
The business structure is still of paramount importance as the tradition of travelling by train still remains one of the most popular today.
WHAT TO DO:
1. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word combinationsand use them in the sentences:
расстояниевмилях, подвижной состав, тепловоз, вагон, груз/товары, попути/вдороге, маршрут, сойти с рельсов, сошедшийсрельсов, сортировочнаястанция, частныйвагон, выбрасыватьзаненадобностью, отзывсостава, напряжение, забраковка.
2. Give the Russian equivalents for the following words and word combinations:
steam traction, electric traction, a diesel locomotive, independentlightrailways, industrialrailways, steam locomotive, electriclocomotive, timing,
freight operator, a track, tomarshal, overheadlineelectrification.
