28-03-2013_14-37-10 / Домашнее чтение LONDON UNDERGROUND
.docLONDON UNDERGROUND
The London Underground is a system of electric trains which are in London, United Kingdom. It is the oldest underground railway in the world. It started running in 1863 as the Metropolitan Railway. After the opening the system was copied in many other cities, for example New York and Madrid. Even though it is called the Underground about half of it is above the ground. The "Tube" is a slang name for the London Underground, because the tunnels for some of the lines are round tubes running through the ground. The Underground has got 274 stations and over 408 km of track.
The Metropolitan Line was the first part of the Underground to be made. It was opened in 1863. It then ran between Paddington and Farringdon. It took 40,000 passengers per day. Later it was made longer. The District Line was built by a different company. In 1884, the Circle Line was finished. All these lines used steam engines at first.
In 1890, a line using electric trains was opened. It was much deeper below ground than the other lines. Now it is part of the Northern Line. More lines like this were opened. People liked them, so in 1905 the lines that used steam engines were changed to use electric trains.
B
ecause
the different lines were run by different companies, changing lines
was difficult. Between 1900 and 1902 Charles
Yerkes
bought most of the companies and formed a company named Underground
Electric Railways of London Company Ltd. In 1933 a company was formed
of all the bus, tram and underground companies, called London
Passenger Transport Board. It planned to make the network longer, but
the Second World War stopped this. In the war, some Underground
stations were used as shelters against bombs.
After the war more passengers used the underground. Because of that they built the Victoria Line which took over many passengers. The Piccadilly Line was built farther to Heathrow Airport in 1977. The system uses two kinds of trains, a big one and a small one. The big ones are used for the rectangular tunnels (District Line, Metropolitan Line, Circle Line), the small ones for the round tunnels. The underground uses trains built between 1960 and 1996.
The Underground uses zones to collect fares. There are ticket offices, some open only in the rush-hour, and ticket machines, which can be used at any time. Some machines take coins only, other touch-screen machines take coins and English notes, and usually give change. These machines also take credit and debit cards: some newer machines accept cards only.
When most of the stations in the London Underground system were built, disabled and wheelchair access were not considered. While many above-ground stations have only a few steps to the platform, nearly all Underground stations have some of the system's 410 escalators and 112 lifts. Newer stations include disabled access, and many older stations install disabled access when they are refurbished or rebuilt. The escalators in the London Underground system are some of the longest in Europe. They run 20 hours a day, 364 days a year and are used by 13,000 people per hour, with 95% of them running at one time.
There have been relatively few accidents in the Underground's history. Most happen if people accidentally fall onto the tracks. In some stations there are pits in the middle of the track to stop people being injured if they fall onto the track. Newly rebuilt parts of the system, especially on the Jubilee line, have platform doors. These doors only open when a train stops and prevent people falling or jumping onto the tracks.
In the 30s, 70s and 90s the Underground was bombed many times by the IRA, and for this reason there have been no waste bins in or around stations until very recently, when clear plastic sacks were introduced in some parts of the system. On 7th July 2005 there were three attacks by radical Islamic terrorists on two Circle Line trains and on one Piccadilly Line. Smoking is not allowed in any part of the underground. This ban was after a fire in King's Cross Station in 1987.
The commuters of London often complain about the Underground. Usually the complaints are about delays, overcrowding and the fares. London Underground fares are now the most expensive of any rail system around the world. Because the underground is a very old system, engineering work is often needed and often causes delays. Because many more commuters use the underground than planned, overcrowding often happens. This can cause stress and frustration with the underground system among commuters. According to a report, commuters face "a daily trauma" and are often forced to travel in "intolerable conditions".
New words
|
|
|
|