Ex.12. Go back to the text and answer the questions.

1. How long is the high-speed railway between London and the United Kingdom end of the Channel Tunnel?

2. What kind of traffic does the line carry?

3. What speed does the line allow on section 2?

4. How much did it cost to build the line?

5. How many trains does the fleet of Eurostar have?

6. What livery did the original "Inter-City 125" have?

7. What mechanism was used in the APT-E?

8. What prompted a rethink in the choice of motive power?

9. What kind of motive power is used in the UK?

10. What factors helped to increase passenger volumes?

Additional text

Read the text and translate it using a dictionary. Check your translating speed.

Eurostar

Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel.

The London terminus is St Pancras International, with the other British calling points in Kent. Calling points with trains to Paris terminate at Gare du Nord. Trains to Belgium terminate at Midi/Zuid station in Brussels. In addition, there are limited services from London to Disneyland Paris and to seasonal destinations in southern France in summer and the Alps in winter.

The service is operated by eighteen-coach trains which run at up to 300 kilometres per hour on a network of high-speed lines. The LGV Nord line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, and newer lines enabling faster journeys were added later–HSL1 in Belgium and High Speed 1 in southern England. The French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris-Brussels services and also with TGV trains. In the United Kingdom the two-stage Channel Tunnel Rail Link project was completed on 14 November 2007 and renamed High Speed 1.

Eurostar was until 2010 operated jointly by the national railway companies of France and Belgium, and Eurostar (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of London and Continental Railways, which also owned the high-speed infrastructure and stations on the British side. Eurostar has become the dominant operator in cross-channel intercity passenger travel on the routes that it operates, carrying more passengers than all airlines combined.

In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average end-to-end speed of 171.5 km/h (106.6 mph) between London and Paris. On 8 January 1996 Eurostar launched services from a second railway station in the UK when Ashford International was opened. Journey times between London and Brussels were reduced by the opening of HSL 1 on 14 December 1997.

On 23 September 2003 passenger services began running on the first completed section of High Speed 1. Following a high-profile glamorous opening ceremony and a large advertising campaign, on 14 November 2007 Eurostar services in London transferred from Waterloo to the brand new St Pancras International.

An advantage held by Eurostar is the convenience and speed of the service: with shorter check-in times than at most airports and hence quicker boarding and less queueing and high punctuality, it takes less time to travel between central London and central Paris by high-speed rail than it does by air. Eurostar now has a dominant share of the combined rail-air market on its routes to Paris and Brussels. In 2004, it had a 66% share of the London-Paris market, and a 59% share of the London-Brussels market. In 2007, it achieved record market shares of 71% for London-Paris and 65% for London-Brussels routes.

Unit 5

Ex. 1. Read and memorize the following words and word combinations:

Word-box:

boring – бурение catenary – контактная подвеска chalk marl – известковый мергель communication system – система связи concession radio – местное радио (радио, принадлежащее компании) crew – бригада loading gauge – габарит подвижного состава roll-on/roll-off – трейлерные перевозки service tunnel – служебный туннель third rail – контактный рельс tunnel boring machine – буровая туннелепроходческая машина tunneling – проходка туннеля

Ex.2. Copy the following words and memorize their meanings:

beneath – ниже; под

either – и тот и другой; оба

expenditure – издержки

internal – внутренний

onward – вперёд

overrun – превышение

peak – достичь максимума; разгар

possess – владеть

predict – прогнозировать

shaft – шахта

share – иметь долю