Reading - Part 3

The world’s first public passenger railway was built in Great Britain in 1826 and ran between the industrial north-eastern towns of Stockton and Darlington. After 180 years’ experience the British say that their trains still don’t seem to run efficiently or even safely. On average, about 500 accidents with broken rail tracks happen in the country every year.

The British government is promising to give £33.5 billion to modernise the railways before 2010. Another £30 billion is to come from the private sector. The main target is to increase safety and speed. For example, new London-to-Scotland high-speed trains significantly reduce journey times and in 2004 a warning system was installed throughout the country.

Statistics show that only 12% of all journeys made in Britain are by public transport. The remaining 88% are made by car. Every year British people spend about two weeks travelling to and from work including nine days in their own cars. But anyone will say this isn’t a quick and easy way to travel. In fact, a journey from London to Manchester frequently takes seven hours. A cyclist could get there quicker.

Every year there are about half a million traffic jams in Britain. That is nearly 10,000 a week. There are hundreds of big traffic jams every day. According to the forecast, the number of jams will grow by 20 per cent over the next ten years. Nearly a quarter British people find themselves in a jam every day and 55 per cent at least once a week.

Nowadays many British people take their children to school by car. Twenty years ago, nearly one in three primary school children made their own way to school. Now only one child in nine makes their own way. During the school year at 08:50 a.m. one car in five on the roads in any British town is taking children to school. The solution could be special school buses widely used in the USA.

Many scientists hope that new technologies allowing more people to work at home may help with traffic problems. Fewer people will work from 9 to 5 and travel to and from work during the rush hour. But only 15% of people now want to spend more time working at home. The workplace is, for many people, a place to meet other people and to talk to them, so they would miss it if they worked from home.