Us railways Basic Vocabulary

to spread	простягатись, поширюватись
mileage	відстань в милях
to collect	одержувати, збирати
revenues	прибутки, находження
profitably	прибутково , корисно
long haul route	транспортування на довгі відстані
to be booked months in advance	замовляти за місяць заздалегідь
to take note of	звернути увагу, взяти до відома
mirror image	дзеркальне відображення
off-balance-sheet	позабалансова відомість
fragmented loss-making mess	частково неприбутковий
to remove	усувати, видаляти
hurdles	перепони, труднощі
sparse	нечастий, рідкісний
unsung	непопулярний
expressway	магістраль
traffic jam	затори на дорогах
to rumble	гуркотіти
partnership	компанія, товариство

The US railway network spreads into all sections of the country, but the web of railways is much denser in the eastern half of the United States. Primary rail transportation in the United States today consists of freight shipments. Passenger service, once a large and vital part of the nation's passenger transportation network, now plays a limited role as compared to transportation patterns in many other countries. Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation), a federally subsidized concern, operates almost all the inter-city passenger trains in the United States. Amtrak has over 40 years of rich American history. Today, the company is operating a national system that comprises long-distance, state-supported services and the high-speed Acela Express that connects communities, regions and modes of transportation across the country. 

The present American Railroading can be divided into a number of sections. There are today 31 Class 1 railroads such as the Santa Fe and the Norfolk and Southern each earning more than 92 million Dollar. In addition there are 31 Regional railroads such as the Providence and Worcester each earn over 40 million or operate over 350 miles of track. In addition there are over 200 short line roads such as the Aberdeen and Rockfish in the US. The Class 1 railroads operate 81 percent of the total US mileage, employ 90 percent of the work force, and collect 91% of the revenues. Amtrak is the Government Corporation that provides almost all passenger service. Amtrak has been remarkably successful, in both operating the North East Corridor profitably and attracting passengers on its long haul routes that are often booked months in advance. Unfortunately Amtrak still seems to require large government subsidies to operate. Finally one must take note of the large commuter railroads such as the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York, carry millions of commuters a year.

Union Station in Los Angeles is a hub for Metrolink commuter trains and Amtrak services to faraway cities such as Chicago and Seattle. These trains have to pull in and then back out in a clumsy manoeuvre. But there are plans for through tracks in time to carry the high-speed services that California is desperate to have by 2020 under an ambitious $42 billion plan to connect San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.

America’s railways are the mirror image of Europe’s. Europe has an impressive and growing network of high-speed passenger links, many of them international, like the Thalys service between Paris and Brussels or the Eurostar connecting London to the French and Belgian capitals. These are successful—although once the (off-balance-sheet) costs of building the tracks are counted, they need subsidies of billions of dollars a year. But, outside Germany and Switzerland, Europe’s freight rail services are a fragmented, lossmaking mess. Repeated attempts to remove the technical and bureaucratic hurdles at national frontiers have come to nothing.

Amtrak’s passenger services are sparse compared with Europe’s. But America’s freight railways are one of the unsung transport successes of the past 30 years. They are universally recognized in the industry as the best in the world.

A special rail expressway for freight, the Alameda Corridor, was opened in 2002 to link the ports to the big national rail routes, by passing the 200 level crossings (grade crossings, in America) on the original branch lines that used to cause huge traffic jams on the roads as mile-long freight trains rumbled across. The corridor, one of the biggest infrastructure projects in modern America, was completed on time and on budget for $2.4 billion by a public-private partnership considered by many to be a model for other rail schemes, such as California’s proposed high-speed passenger line.