И. А. Курбасова Е. И. Силантьева

TEXT 3. THE RAILWAYS IN THE FUTURE

Railways everywhere are engaged ,.in a war—a grim eco­nomic war—and in no field is it fiercer than in the battle for passengers. The railways are fighting today in the same way as the stage-coaches and canals did in the.last century.

When the car owner wants to travel he cxisiders only the cost of his petrol because the other sums have to be paid whether he uses his car or not. Naturally, he believes his car is much cheaper than any form of public transport, especially, if he has his family with him, and much more convenient because it will take him and his luggage from door to door.
Where distances are long, the speed of air travel is such that people choose to fly and not to undertake a long, com­paratively slow travel by rail. So the railway is beset on all sides—by the car for short journey and the aircraft for long.
Fortunately for railways there is a middle distance and it is in this middle zone that the railways have the chances to win the traffic.
What is to be the role of railways in the future? Will it succeed in remaining one of the world's principal means
of transport? If so, what is it to be like and what traffic is it to carry?
The railway is likely to remain as a vital means of communication for many years yet. For this, however, the railway will have to increase its speed. Recent investiga­tions have shown that steel wheels on steel rails are capable of achieving much more in this field than it was thought before. Only a few decades ago 125 mph were considered as the upper limit of speed on conventional track, but 150-160 mph have already proved possible in regular service if the track is carefully laid and well maintained.
The need for speed is recognized, so is the need for comfort. Ordinary comforts of seating, food, air-condition­ing, etc., can bе„taken for granted, but there will have to be a considerable rebuilding of main lines to reach the proper standards and easing of curves on high-speed lines to protect passengers from the effects of centrifugal force.
As train speeds increase so does the power needed to operate them. That is why careful attention will have to be devoted to the aerodynamic shape of the front end of trains and to light but strong construction of the rolling stock.