Ex. 6. Choose the right word and translate the sentences into Russian.

a) fastening                           b) stability                          c) load

6. In fact, the origins of the standard … considerably pre-date the Roman Empire, and may even pre-date the invention of the wheel.

a) gauge                                    b) tamper                           c) stone

7. … is one of the most accessible natural resources, and is a major basic raw material used by construction, agriculture, and other industries.

a) crush stoned                       b) crushed stone                 c) crush stone

8. … workers generally work between the hours of 7:00pm and 4:00am, when rail traffic is lighter.

a) maintenance track                 b) track maintenance          c) main track

9. The block of softwood can be used to … the load when using the hammer.

a) speed                                          b) fasten                             c) spread

10. Traditionally, … have been made of wood, but … is now widely used.

a) rails; concrete                    b) ties; concrete                  c) tie; concrete

11. It is important that each person involved with ___maintenance receives training appropriate to that person’s responsibilities.

a) permanent way                  b) constant way                  c) permanent road

Ex. 7. Before reading the text make sure you pronounce the following words and phrases correctly:

creosote, although, Shinkansen, gauge, recently, instead of, practice, the permanent way, rail fastenings, two parallel rails, the underlying subgrade, the whole structure, jointless tracks, the cost of maintenance, standard 60 ft rail lengths, 1435 mm, 1520 mm, the European Community, track laying machines, high-speed railways, carefully and regularly.

Ex. 8. Read the text and translate it, using a dictionary, if necessary.

RAILWAY TRACK

The track on a railway, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, rail fastenings, sleepers and ballast (or slab track), plus the underlying subgrade.

The main component parts of the modem railway track do not differ greatly from those of a hundred or more years ago. As then, railway track consists of two parallel rails which are supported on crossties (ties, sleepers). The sleepers hold the rails in place and at the right distance apart and play their part in spreading the load to the subgrade (formation). The number and spacing of the sleepers depend largely on the weight of trains passing over the track. The sleepers are laid on ballast, and the whole structure is supported on the subgrade. The rails are joined to each other by fastenings. High-speed railways use now continuous welded rails instead of standard ones because jointless tracks give better riding qualities, last longer, reduce the cost of maintenance and increase the stability of the line. The practice now is to weld standard 60 ft rail lengths into lengths of up to a mile or more. There are several types of rails now used on our railways, such as R60, R75. R75 type means that the weight of one meter of rail is 75 kg.

Recently the crossties consisted almost universally of wood treated with the special material called creosote which prevents it from decay. Now concrete sleepers are widely used on all the railways of the world. Metal plates, known as tie plates, protect the ties from damage due to the cutting action of the rail.

Track ballast consists almost universally of crushed stone (broken stone, rock stone), but some other materials (slag, gravel, sand, etc.) are used as well. There is usually a lower layer of large pieces of material (three to nine inches across) and an upper layer of half inch to two inches. On this the sleepers are laid, and loose ballast of the smaller size is fitted in between them.

Although ballast is one of the main component parts of railway track, some countries prefer laying tracks without ballast. Thus, the slab track has been adopted for all Shinkansen lines (high-speed lines in Japan). High-speed tests on the slab track showed that the stability of the trains is much higher.

The distance between rails is called gauge. The gauge is not the same on different railways of the world. The gauge on most railways in Europe, including Great Britain, is 1435 mm. As for the Russian railways, their gauge is 1520 mm. Finland is the only country in the European Community that has the same gauge as Russia. High-speed passenger and freight trains can cross the border without stopping.

To provide safe and reliable railway traffic it is important to maintain railway track carefully and regularly. For many years railway track has been laid, maintained and repaired by hard manual labor. Now this work is being modernized, and a lot of different machines are used in track service: track laying machines, tampers, ballast cleaners, rail-welding machines, track-laying cranes and some others.

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