1) What is the quickest means of city’s transport? 2) Why is it necessary to construct Underground railways in large cities? 3) Why is the construction of underground railway system a very expensive and complicated engineering process? 4) What is the difference between the permanent way of underground railroads and ground-based railway tracks? 5) Why is there no ballast on the underground railways? 6) Are Metro trains powered by steam or electricity? 7) Where is the current obtained from? 8) What does the Underground carrying capacity depend on? 9) How many cities of the world have already built the Underground railways? 10) Where was the first underground railway line laid down? 11) What city has the largest subway system in the world? 12) What is the length of the metro line in Istanbul?
Ex.24. Match the beginnings of the sentences with their endings.
1) In the USA the first subway line was a) the Metropolitan railway.
constructed…
2) The second underground line in London… b) on the Victoria line of the London
passed… Underground.
3) The shortest Metro line in the world c) clean and attractive stations.
was built…
4) Electric single cars with trolley poles d) the largest subway system in the world.
were used…
5) In Paris the construction of the first e) in the Budapest Subway.
Metro line lasted…
6) The first underground system in the world f) in Boston between 1895 and 1897.
was called…
7) The Moscow and Rome Metros are justly g) in Istanbul.
famous for…
8) New York has… h) under the Thames River.
9) Automated trains that are operated by i) two years.
remote control are used…
10) Constructing tunnels under the rivers, j) a device called a tunneling shield that
builders use… protects a tunnel against flooding.
Ex.25. Here are the answers. Write the questions.
1) Subsurface lines, ground based lines and elevated lines. 2) Under city streets or under rivers. 3) Only 0.9m long. 4) Directly on concrete base. 5) From the third rail. 6) In 80 cities all over the world. 7) The cut-and-cover method. 8) On January 10, 1863. 9) In Budapest. 10) In Moscow and Rome.
TEXT B
Read and translate the text.
LONDON UNDERGROUND
Part 1
The underground railways as a kind of city transport appeared in the second half of the 19th century. The first underground system was proposed by Charles Pearson in 1843. Twenty years later the first line of the London Underground was opened for traffic. Its length was almost four miles. On that first historic day 30,000 Londoners made the first underground railway travel in the world.
In the early days, the trains were driven by steam locomotives which burnt coal, filling the tunnels with smoke. It is said that the train staff and porters asked for a permission to grow beards and moustaches – as an early form of smog mask. The tunnels of the first underground were made as small as possible in order to reduce the construction costs. The coaches themselves were small and narrow.
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According to Pearson’s project all lines were laid down close to the ground surface. The deep tunneling came later, in 1890. Constructing the tunnel through miles of clay, sand and gravel is no easy task, and it was James Henry Greathead who developed the method which made the construction of most London tunnels possible. One of the longest continuous tunnels in the world is the 17½ mile tunnel on the Northern line. The first escalator was also installed in the London Underground in 1911.
During the World War II the London Underground served as a shelter for thousands of Londoners. Many British Museum treasures spent the war in the tunnels of the Underground. The railways were prepared for any emergency that might occur. They had duplicate control systems, repair groups, duplicate power supply and so on. To minimize the danger of flooding the underground near the Thames, isolating doors were built in the tunnels. All the trains were equipped with special reduced lighting for using on open sections of track.
Part 2
Nowadays the London Underground (it is often called the Tube) is the most popular means of city transport because it is relatively cheap, convenient, quick and safe. Its length is about 400 km. Every day the Tube carries over 2.5 million passengers. The total number of passengers carried by the Underground each year is enormous and it is constantly growing.
In the London Metro there are 11 underground lines, each of them has got its own color. For example, the lines are called: Central (red), Circle (yellow), East London (orange), Metropolitan (dark brown), Northern (black), Victoria (light blue) and so on.
Only half of the trains go under the ground, new lines that connect London with its suburbs go over the ground. On such routes express trains are operated. They stop at a very few stations on their way that is very convenient for those people who live in the suburbs but work in the center of London.
There are 275 stations in the London Metro. Most of them are old and not attractive to the eye. The walls are simply white or gray plastered with all kinds of advertisements. Numerous stations which are rather deep under the ground are equipped with escalators. About 200 escalators can carry 10,000 passengers an hour at maximum speed. The longest one is at the station “Leicester Square ”, its length is over 80 feet. On long escalators the speed is changeable. The “up” escalator runs at full speed when carrying passengers but when empty it moves at half speed. It is known that traffic is left-hand in Britain, but when passengers get on the escalator they stand on the right. People who hurry can run by on the left, and it seems that everybody in the Underground always hurries.
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The atmosphere «underground» is considered even better than that outside. There are special pumps and fans that suck in the air from the street, purify it, and make it warm or cool on its way to the station. The air in the Underground is changed every quarter of an hour, and the temperature all year round is maintained at 69-79 degrees Fahrenheit.
The fare in the London Underground depends on the distance you travel, but the lowest is 50 pence. Tickets can be bought in the booking offices but for short journeys that cost a few pence, tickets can be obtained from automatic machines.
Safety was always one of the main concerns of the London transport. In spite of the fact that trains often follow each other within 1-3 minutes, it is said that the London Underground is the safest form of transport in the world. The most up-to-date electronic equipment is used for controlling train movement: if changes are necessary, they are made automatically and with lightning speed. No accident can happen because of human errors.