Английский язык. Жесткова М.В - 123 стр.

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123
they have thus far been used only for hauling people for short distances.
One of the first monorail systems constructed was the Schwebebahn (suspension railway
1
) in
Wuppertal, Germany. Completed in 1901, it consists of two-car trains hung from an elevated
structure
2
. Much of the route operates over the Wupper River. The distance covered is 9.3 miles (15
kilometers).
This system, though it has proved safe and efficient, has not had many imitators. There are today
only about three dozen monorails in the world, and none operates for a distance longer than 10 miles
(16 kilometers). There is an 8.2-mile (13-kilometer) monorail in Japan running from Tokyo to the
airport. It was constructed in 1964 on the occasion of the Summer Olympic Games. Although much
newer in appearance than the one in Wuppertal, it also is suspended from an overhead beam
3
. A
shorter line was built at Osaka for the World's Fair called Expo '70. There is a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer)
monorail in Seattle, Wash., that was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.,
and Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., both have monorail trains operating within their
grounds. The systems connect the various parts of the parks with hotels and parking lots.
The Disney and Seattle monorails ride above a beam. This system was designed in the 1950s in
Sweden by Axel L. Wenner-Gren. The trains pick up an electric current from a rail attached to the
side of the beam.
Although they provide swift and quiet transportation, monorails have not yet been accepted
anywhere for long-distance travel. In England the Greater London Council studied the monorail as
an option for urban transport. It concluded that such a system offered no advantages over existing
surface and underground lines. Among the objections to monorail systems cited by critics are the
huge cost of constructing a system, its unsightliness in a city, and passenger inconvenience. Such a
system in any city would have the high visibility that elevated trains now have in parts of New York
City, Boston, Chicago, and other urban centers.
One of the few places in the world to invest in a monorail system in the late 1980s was
Malaysia. The city of Kuala Lumpur approved a project to construct a 12-mile (20-kilometer) line.
Notes
:
1
suspension railway – подвесная железная дорога
2
elevated structure – надземное сооружение, эстакада
3
overhead beam – надземная балка (перекладина)
[7] STREET RAILWAY
1
A historic type of urban transportation, the street railway has taken many forms, from a single
horse-drawn car to a complex system of strings of cars running above and below the ground. In the
typical street railway, electrically powered cars run on tracks laid in the street and share the roadway
with other traffic.
The famed cable-car system
2
in San Francisco, Calif., was among the first mechanical railways.
Electric railways replaced most cable systems in the early 20th century. Electric streetcars draw
power from a stationary generator. The power is transmitted most commonly by an overhead wire
3
through a pantograph. The current passes to the motors, and then returns to the powerhouse by way
of the running rails.
A modern variation of the street railway is light rail transit
4
(LRT). LRT vehicles operate singly
or in short trains of two or three cars. Their tracks may run in the common roadways, but typically
the tracks are segregated from traffic except at cross streets and often run in subways or on elevated
structures. LRT systems can transport many passengers, accelerate rapidly, and travel at high
speeds. The direct operating costs are relatively low; however, the costs of construction and
maintenance are fairly high.
Conventional streetcar systems are still used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia,
The Netherlands, Eastern Europe, and parts of Canada and South America. In many cities of
Europe, Asia, and the United States, however, streetcars have been replaced by diesel-powered
buses, subway systems, and LRT systems.

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