Ex. 8. Read the sentences and translate them.
1. Sibiryak is a named passenger train, which links Berlin to some of main routes and cities of Russia, passing through Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan.
2. Because railways can carry a greater volume of goods over long distances than road transport can, they are of special importance in China’s transportation system.
3. The most outstanding steam-hauled miniature railway in the world is the track, which encircles the Disney Park.
4. Almost 1.3 billion passengers and 1.3 billion tons of freight travel via Russian Railways annually.
5. The Government’s decision to privatize the Rio de Janeiro’s commuter railway network was timely and it may have prevented some unprofitable railway lines from closing.
6. Operating length of the Russian railways is 86,000 km, of which more than 36,300 km is double or multi track.
7. Moscow State University of Railway Engineering (MIIT) is among the five largest universities in the world in terms of the student body (about 60,000).
8. The earliest high-speed train put into operation in Europe was the named train "Direttissima" that connected Rome with Florence (Italy) in 1978.
9. Pavel Petrovich Melnikov, an outstanding scientist, talented engineer and manager, was the first minister of railways, who developed a program for railway development in Russia.
10. The railways played a vital role in Britain’s industrial development during the 19th and early 20th centuries but with the invention of the internal combustion engine, road transport became more popular for both goods and passengers.
11. In 1947, all railway companies in Britain were nationalized. In 1994, however, the government took a decision that railways should be returned to private ownership.
12. New models of lightweight rail cars consuming 50% less power than old models have been recently put into operation on the Japanese Railways.
Ex. 9. Read the sentences, replacing italicized Russian words and phrases with their English equivalents.
1. In 2008, the New Zealand government принимать решение to spend $150m to enlarge railway tunnels for the bigger ISO containers now operating.
2. A luxury (=high comfort) фирменный поезд, the Desert Express, пускать в эксплуатацию in Namibia to show tourists the scenic beauties of the country’s harsh desert terrain.
3. The Channel Tunnel is of особое значение for a united Europe.
4. The air brake and the automatic coupler относиться к числу the most important inventions of the 19th century.
5. Within five years, the railway was carrying over seven million passengers ежегодно.
6. The construction of Russia’s first major railway line, linking Saint-Petersburg and Moscow was a дело государственной важности. The Ministry of Railways was created in the Russian Empire in 1842 in order to контролировать the construction.
7. The railways are a очень важный element in the industrial power of any country.
8. As Russia is a country of great distances, railways are of особое значение in carrying large amounts of various freight.
9. Своевременныйcompletion of track repair works enabled the trains to run to timetable.
10. C одной стороны, nuclear power is relatively cheap. C другой стороны, it may be dangerous.
11. X 2000 high-speed trains пущенные в эксплуатацию by Swedish railways in the 1990s can run at a speed of 200 km/h on standard track.
Ex. 10. Read the text and translate it.
Kuibyshev Railway
The Kuibyshev Railway is among the country’s largest mainlines. It links European Russia with the economically vital regions of the Urals and Middle Asia. It runs across three republics (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Mordovia) and seven regions (Ryazan, Penza, Tambov, Chelyabinsk, Ulyanovsk and Samara).
The Kuibyshev Railway is one of the oldest Russian railways. Its history dates back to the Morshansk-Syzran line put into operation in 1874. This line was 485 versts (about 520 km) long; it operated 42 steam locomotives, 47 Morse apparatus, 530 freight carriages, 52 passenger cars and 15 baggage cars.
In 1875, the decision was taken to span the Volga River by a bridge at Syzran, a town 40 km from Samara. Nikolay Apollonovich Belelyubskiy, an outstanding Russian scientist and bridge engineer was in charge of construction works. The special importance of the bridge was that this was the only rail link between Central Russia, on the one hand, and Siberia and Turkestan, on the other. As bridge construction was a matter of national importance it was personally supervised by Tsar Alexander the Second. 7 million gold roubles were spent to carry out the project.
The inauguration of the bridge took place on August 30, 1880. Until 1919, its official name was Alexander Bridge. For a long period of time, it was a unique engineering structure – the 1.5 km girder bridge1 had 13 spans 110 meters each. Since 1957, railway traffic has been carried on the double-track line.
These days, the Kuibyshev Railway as a branch of RZD JSC (Joint-Stock Company) provides sustainable development2 of the Volga-Urals economic region. It has five divisions: Samara, Ruzaevka, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Bashkiria. The operating length of the mainline is 11.5 thousand km (the total length of the Russian railways is 85 thousand km), 7.2 thousand km are main-line tracks. There are over 330 stations, including six marshalling yards. The railway operates 23 locomotive and car depots to maintain and repair rolling stock.
Freight traffic is a top priority for the Kuibyshev Railway. Among the most important goods transported are oil and oil products, chemicals, timber, cement, construction materials, automobiles, etc. Annually, over 60 mln tons of freight is carried by the Kuibyshev Railway. The introduction of advanced technologies into rail industry ensures safe and timely delivery of goods.
More than 30 mln people are transported by our railway every year. Passenger traffic is provided by long-distance trains, including named trains, as well as by local trains. Electrical multiple-unit trains (EMUs) are very popular among people living on the territory served by the Kuibyshev Railway. Every year, 25 million people travel by commuter trains.
Notes: 1girder bridge – мост с балочным пролётным строением;
2sustainable development – устойчивое развитие.