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Ex.26. Answer the following general questions.
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1) Did the underground railways appear in the 20th century? 2) Has the London Underground been used since 1860? 3) Was the first line of the London Underground built according to Stephenson’s project? 4) Were the first Metro trains driven by electricity? 5) Did the London Underground operate during the World War II? 6) Does the London Underground carry over 2.5 million passengers a day at present? 7) Do all Metro trains go under the ground? 8) Are all stations equipped with escalators? 9) Was safety always one of the main concerns of London transport? 10) Can any accident happen because of human errors in the London Underground? 11) Is the number of passengers carried by the London Underground constantly growing? 12) Do express trains stop at all the stations on their way? 13) Are there twelve Underground lines in London? 14) Do all the underground lines have their own color?
TEXT C
Read and translate the text.
MOSCOW UNDERGROUND
For the first time the idea of building the underground railway in Moscow was discussed before the revolution. But the construction of the first section (from Sokolniki to Central Park) was initiated only in 1932. The length of this line was 11kilometers. The construction lasted three years and it was called the record period of time by the world press. The Russian engineers carefully studied the existing underground systems abroad before working out their own project, which represents a significant improvement on the London system.
The engineering difficulties were great mainly because much of the soil was composed of running sand*. Fortunately most of the running sand lay close to the surface, therefore it was found possible to use out-and-cover method of construction under many streets. But in the center of the city where the line is 100ft or more deep, the construction of tunnels was necessary.
The Moscow Underground consists of a circle line, which runs round the city center, several radial lines crossing the city and connecting with each other and the lines running to the countryside. Some constructional work is still going on. Now the length of the underground lines reaches about 300km.
At present the Moscow Metro handles more than 5 million passengers each day. During peak hours trains run at a speed of 90km per hour with the intervals of about 80 seconds. One train takes up to 1, 500 passengers. For greater safety of travel all trains are inspected every 6-9 hours of running. Being in operation for about 13 hours daily each metro train covers the distance equal to that from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The trains servicing the Underground are supplied with low voltage direct current. The current is obtained from the third rail by special devices that are mounted beneath the motor coaches. Rolling stock is completely replaced approximately once every four years.
The Moscow Metro can compete with the underground railways in any of the European capitals in level of automation. At present experiments are being conducted with an “automatic driver”, i.e. with computer-controlled trains. The computer devices will help to relieve the nervous strain on the drivers and make it possible to increase the cruising speed** of trains even more. These automatic devices have already been tested over the Circle Route by way of experiment. The Moscow Metro is justly famous for clean and attractive stations and for good service of riders at rather low fares.
Notes: *running sand – сыпучий песок, плывун
**cruising speed – эксплуатационная скорость
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