Future of Railway

(1) Many years, ago when railways were coming into use, they were an object of public criticism. People having doubts about steam-operated, railways said that the smoke from the steam locomotives would kill birds and the houses would be burnt up by the fire from the locomotives' chimneys (труба). Travelling by rail would be highly dangerous. A German doctor wrote at that time that it would be impossible for people to watch the trains pass along with­ out going mad (сходить с ума).

(2) Railways, however, have made a great advance since that time and. turned "out to be more advantageous than, any other kind, of land transport. Now one may suppose that railways face a bright future. A network of electrified lines, would, continuously expand. Passenger service would be handled by entirely new vehicles riding with a top speed of 500 kph. Diesel motive power would be used for switch­ing operations and for Hauling trains on secondary lines. Greater importance should be attached in the future to containerized service to prevent goods from being damaged. Probably wireless telephone and television communication with the whole world would be available for any passenger travelling in a long-distance express train. In audition to these benefits, railways would offer many other conveniences to passengers.

(3) Had it been possible for the opponents of early rail­ways to live till now, they should have admitted that G. Stephenson was right when he said that eventually the railway would replace other means of transportation and it would be cheaper for man to travel by rail than to walk on foot.

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Moving Pavements (тротуар)

(1) For many years transport engineers thought of the ways to perfect city transport. There was time when they claimed (утверждать) that railed horse-drawn omnibuses (конка) would be more advantageous than the stage-coaches existing at that time. Although that time has already passed, specialists are still thinking about new means of passenger transport in big cities.

(2) Indeed, what will city transport look like in 20 or 30 years? Some engineers suggest the idea of moving pavem­ents. The pavement would consist of two or three strips (полоса) running in both directions along the street. Propelled by electricity, these horizontal escalators would develop differ­ent speeds so that a passenger could ride on a slower or faster strip. Were it necessary, the moving pavement would be equipped with seats and other conveniences for travelers. The first lines of such moving pavements might first appear in the streets with the heaviest traffic. Later, they would be operated as a single system serving the city cen­tre. The designers claim that a large carrying capacity and reliability would be the chief ad vantages-of moving escala­tors. Were they introduced, they would make buses, trolley-buses and other means of surface transport in big cities unnecessary.

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