For years and years people have been saying that the railways are dead. "We can do without railways," people say, as if motorcars and planes have made the railways unnecessary. We all keep heating that trains are slow, that they lose money, and that they are dying. But this is far from the troth. In those days of expensive oil, the railways have become highly competitive with motorcars and planes. If you want to carry people or goods from place to place, they are cheaper than planes. And they have much in common with planes. A plane goes in a straight line and so does a railway. ,What is more, it takes from the heart of a city into the heart of another. It doesn’t leave you as a plane does, miles and miles from the city center. It doesn’t hold you up as a car . does, in endless traffic jams. And a single train can carry goods which a plane or motorcar could never do.
Far from being dead, the railways are very much alive. Modem railway lines give you
A. we can do without railways
B. trains have much in common with motorcars and planes
C. motorcars and planes are not as good as trains
D. trains are as good as motorcars and planes
In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into super systems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers are completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers.
Supporters of the new super systems argued that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities travelling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that only one rail company serves most shippers. Railroads typically charge such "captive" s
A. cost reduction is based on competition
B. services call for cross-trade coordination
C. outside competitors will continue to exist
D. shippers will have the railway by the throat
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