Text 2 rail freight companies

International Rail Freight is the grandfather of all inter-railway cooperative efforts in Europe, at least for intermodal traffic. It was established in 1993 when two big rail companies, Rail Freight and Inter Freight, signed an agreement of co-operation.

Rail Freight was founded in 1967 and is owned by 28 different railways. Its head office is in Basle but there are offices throughout Europe from Lisbon to Moscow.

Inter Freight was founded in 1949 with the purpose of handling refrigerated rail traffic in conventional rail wagons. They have a fleet of 6,500 container wagons and handled 46,500 tonnes of temperature-controlled consignments last year.

Although IRF operates trains mainly in Western Europe, a scheduled service in Moscow and Turkey has been also introduced. They are planning to start time-tabled trains for classic (non-container) wagon-loaded traffic. A shuttle service to Barcelona is expected to go into operation soon.

IRF is co-operating in a number of joint ventures, a customer service organisation is being set up in Germany.

The Company's main goal is to increase productivity by developing train control systems with special fleet control functions. They are also trying to increase the capacity of their main routes by raising the axle loads from 31 to 35 tonnes per axle. Steel wagons are being replaced by rapid-discharge aluminium wagons. Automatic wagon identification points have recently been installed in addition to hot box detectors. In close co-operation with other big European rail operators they are working on a system of freight “freeways” to reduce journey time and become fully competitive both on price and services.

Task 3: Say if the statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.

1. Rail Freight is a state company with the head office in Berlin.

2. R-Freight was established in 1993.

3. IRF operates in Western Europe and handles refrigerators only.

4. A scheduled service to Moscow will be introduced next year.

5. The main goal of the company is to increase its fleet.

6. The company has increased the axle load to 40 tons per axle.

7. Hot box detectors have recently been installed on all trains that run on the route Barcelona - Moscow.

8. IRF are trying to reduce journey time by replacing steel wagons with rapid-discharge aluminium wagons.

Task 4: Look through the text again and say what was mentioned in the text about:

1. IRF and their business;

2. the IRF fleet of wagons;

3. the main goal of the Company.

Learning the Basic Vocabulary

Task 5: a) Find the words in bold type and try to guess their meaning. Check up the translation of the words in the vocabulary. Write them out in your vocabulary.

b) Write down alt the words unknown to you in your vocabulary.

Task 6: Translate the following phrases from the text:

to introduce a shuttle service to handle refrigerated rail traffic to increase the capacity of the route

to operate a scheduled service to reduce journey time to become competitive to replace a fleet control system

Task 7: Match the verbs on the left with the noun phrases on the right and translate the expressions they make into Russian:

to handle to go to replace to reduce to raise to establish to own to install

into operation conventional railway wagons joint venture productivity rapid-discharge wagons wagon identification points delivery time a railway

Task 8: Fill in the gaps with the words given in the box changing the form of the words if necessary.

to produce products production productivity

A manufacturer (or a manufacturing company)_________ goods. The goods it makes are its __________.When a manufacturing company extends, it usually increases its __________. If one year it ________ 100 tonnes and the next year _____. 110 tonnes, it has increased __________ by 10%. When a company invests in new equipment, its _________ is growing. Each company thinks of increasing its ________.

Task 9: Make nouns from the verbs given in the box and insert them in the sentences.

Model: to replace – replacement

to own to introduce to reduce to produce to handle to install

1. Our partners agreed to deliver__________ by the end of the month.

2. The ______ of the new shuttle service to Moscow was suspended for two months.

3. The _____ and the shareholders will hold a meeting in December.

4. Toyota is one of the main ______ of high quality cars in the world.

5. If prices for oil go up, _________'s prices will rise dramatically.

6. If _____ in a country increases and economy starts booming, people get rewarding jobs, earn good money and want more________.

7. ___________ of cargo at railway terminals sometimes take a lot of time.

8. The joint company had to invest heavily into the _________ of new hot box detectors.

Task 10: Check yourself. Give English equivalents of the following Russian word combinations:

1. железнодорожные перевозки грузов

2. установить новое оборудование

3. создать совместное предприятие

4. увеличить производительность

5. ввести новый маршрут движения поездов по расписанию

6. определить основную цель работы

7. увеличить нагрузку на ось

8. с целью обработки рефрижераторных составов

9. подписать соглашение о сотрудничестве

10. система идентификации вагонов

11. выставить счет заказчику

12. отгрузить заказ морем

13. разместить твердый заказ на 100 детекторов у Смит и Ко

14. предоставить пятипроцентную скидку

15. вести переговоры по заключению сделки

16. назначить обоснованные цены

Focusing on Grammar