Ex. 6. Read the following text and explain the advantages of privatizing railways in Great Britain
The British public loves railways, even as it hates the way they are run. For railway fans, privatization should, in principle, offer three huge advantages. First, it should encourage the rooting-out of inefficiency. By some measures British Rail compares well with other European railways; only the Dutch railway beats it on costs per kilometer traveled. But waste remains endemic: when a railway in small country employs 35,000 civil engineers, something is amiss.
Second, private operators should bring an infusion of new marketing skills. British Rail is notorious for its anti-consumer culture: scruffy staff, poor communications, queues and crowds. It is improving, but not fast enough. Railmen sneer that competitors will just bring a lick of paint, in-carriage television and pretty hostesses. But if that is what customers want, they must get it, or they will switch to cars and flying.
Third, privatization should mean more and better investment. After privatization, investment would no longer be restricted by artificial Treasury-imposed limits. The change has had happy results in other privatized industries.
Will the government’s chosen means of privatization deliver these theoretical benefits? If, like British Gas, British Rail had been privatized in 1985, it would have been sold as one lump. If, like electricity, it had been privatized in 1988, it would have been broken into separate regional rail companies, each with a monopoly. The privatisers of 1993 are thinking more radically. They are no longer content to turn nationalized industries into regulated monopolies. They want the maximum of competition, diversity and choice.
A new body, Railtrack, will be set up to run track and signaling. Freight services will be sold outright. Passenger services will be split into franchises. A government-appointed money, he will offer subsidies to those who will run them. Private operators, including companies set up by British Rail managers and staff, will be able to big for the franchises.
Unanswered question abound. On journeys involving changes of trains, will one operator accept another’s ticket, and on what terms? How much flexibility will the individual operator have over fares? How will Railtrack decide train priorities between fast InterCity trains, slower regional trains and freight? Will freight be charged the (low) marginal cost of using track, or will it be expected to bear a share of the basic network costs, which might price it out of business?
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Many of these questions will be answered only as the new structure takes shape. Some American cities are franchising computer services. Services and track have been split in Sweden; though Swedish Railways has won most of the franchises, costs have come tumbling down. The Germans are proceeding, slowly, on a similar basis. The split between track and service providers looks set to spread across the European Community.
Privatization may take 12 years to complete. If things go well, more competition may be injected sooner. More lines could be opened up to head-to-head competition between operators. The track authority itself could be privatized.
But the whole plan does nothing to allow fairer competition between rail and road. As long as drivers can use overloaded roads at small marginal cost to themselves, they will remain tempted to travel by car. The answer lines in a system of road pricing, with vehicles charged for the roads they use and the congestion they cause.
Ex. 7. Prepare a general discussion on the history of aviation, say what made planes so popular and how they changed the 20th century way of life.
The history of civil aviation on a large scale started with the end of the Second World War. Continued technical advances brought rapid improvements in speed, carrying capacity and comfort. Every part of the globe is now linked by the threads of the world’s air routes and the spinning of this network of communications has brought about a revolution in world trade and the methods of doing business and conducting diplomacy.
1960 was an historic year in aviation marking the passage from propeller flight to the jet era. From that time on the fleet of most airlines of the world was composed exclusively of jet planes, which allowed them to offer greater passenger and cargo capacity on long-range routes.
In the early 1980s better plane was designed and made to fully answer the new demands of civil aviation. The Airbus has a large capacity, essential for management economy (it can carry 253 passengers and 8.864 kg of cargo) and couples a reduced fuel consumption with a considerably low noise level.
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