И. А. Курбасова Е. И. Силантьева

TEXT B. RAILWAYS ACROSS THE WATER
(1) Railroad tracks can cross the seas, lakes and rivers. Railway vehicles are carried across such stretches of water as the North Sea, the English Channel, the Baltic and the Black Seas by train ferries (паром), with railroad tracks being laid on their main decks.

(2) Most of these "ships" are intended for freight cars only. But there also exist ferries to carry passenger coaches. For example, sleeping car express trains, with passengers staying in bed, make regular runs from England to the Continent. There is no need to say that ferries should be strongly built to withstand high waves and winds of great force.

(3) Another way to overcome a water obstacle is to erect a bridge structure. The suspension bridge across the Bospo­rus¹ in Turkey may serve as an example. It is Europe's longest bridge, the length of its span between the sup­porting towers being nearly 1,080 m. Being built in the modern manner, the bridge structure is not affected by winds and storms. Its carrying capacity is 20,000 motor cars daily.

(4) Instead of erecting bridges or using ferries to cross rivers railroad builders may bore tunnels beneath the river bottom. Sometimes underwater tunnels are not bored through rock like conventional mountain tunnels; they are simply huge iron tubes resting on the river bottom and rising up to ground level on the opposite sides of the river or chan­nel. Now thought is being given to railway tunnels under the sea.

(5) In this respect, a project to link Sicily² and Italy across the Strait of Messina³ is, no doubt, of certain inter­est. A permanent link between these two countries has been an object of discussion for a long time. After taking into consideration all factors, including cost, high wind dangers and interference with navigation, most experts spoke in favour of the undersea tunnel.

(6) According to the project three interconnected tubes are to be placed at a depth of 40-50 m below the sea suface. They are supposed to be fixed at certain intervals directly to the sea bed by cables.

(7) The cost of the scheme would be considerably lower compared with other alternative structures.