2015年经济学人 东北部交通 轨道变化

Transport in the north-east

Track changes

The north-east is being hobbled by lousy transport

MOST advertisements on public transport attempt to sell something.

Travellers on the London Underground, for example, sit under posters for dating websites, vitamin supplements and insurance policies.

On the two-carriage train between Sunderland and Darlington in the north-east of England, only one advert¹ catches the eye.

It is from the rail company, apparently² apologising for the state the train is in.

The north-east's railway network is creaking.

Two or three-car “Pacers”—cheaply-made carriages based on old buses—judder along large parts of the network.

It can take an hour and a half to get from Middlesbrough to Newcastle, a distance of only 40 miles.

A train journey between Chelmsford in Essex and London, the same distance, takes 36 minutes.

Trains from rich suburbs are less frequent and are often delayed. “You could walk faster,” complains David Budd, the deputy mayor of Middlesbrough.

This is crippling labour mobility³ in England's poorest region.

The north-east was long dependent on heavy industry and has struggled with deindustrialisation.

Unemployment in Middlesbrough, at 15%, is twice the national average (see map).

But because the north-east is so hard to get around, companies must recruit locally, says Paul Callaghan,

chairman of the Leighton Group, a technology firm just outside Sunderland.

The south-east's excellent transport links enable people to travel much more easily.

History is partly to blame. Newcastle aside, many towns in the north-east were self-contained and oriented around mines:

few people needed to travel far. Railways mostly carried coal and steel, and when those industries declined they were cut back.

Even new jobs were often isolated⁴ in suburban⁵ industrial parks.

What little investment there was in transport tended to reinforce older north-south links rather than create new east-west ones.

Local government squabbling has not helped matters.

“There's an antipathy⁶ between Newcastle and Sunderland—and not just about football,” says Ray Hudson of Durham University.

In metropolitan⁷ Manchester, local authorities have ganged up to lobby for investment.

The north-east has failed to present a united front.

Partly as a result, public expenditure⁸ on transport infrastructure⁹ projects is ￡2,595 ($4,340) per head in London but only ￡5 in the north-east, according to IPPR North, a think-tank.

Britain's proposed high-speed railway will not help much, and not for a long time.

Under current plans HS2 will take until 2033 to reach the north-east, some seven years after it stretches to the West Midlands.

Even then many are worried: Edward Twiddy, leader of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership¹⁰,

fears that journeys to Leeds in Yorkshire will become longer and that investment will be drawn¹¹ away from the East Coast mainline.

Smaller, incremental¹² projects would help more. Railway tracks are being electrified¹³ in the north-west, but only as far as York.

Unless parts of the north-east are electrified too, areas like Middlesbrough risk being cut off even more than at present.

Better rolling-stock would get more people on trains.

If another platform were added to Darlington station—a pretty, if sparse¹⁴, Victorian structure—then congestion¹⁵ on the line to London would be reduced, as local and freight services would no longer need to cross the main tracks.

Such projects are less exciting than a whizzy new railway.

Government officials tend to glaze¹⁶ over when they are mentioned, says Ed Cox of IPPR North.

A more integrated approach to transport planning would help.

This is slowly starting to happen: from April 1st seven local authorities in the north-east will hive off some functions to a combined authority, similar to the set-up in Manchester.

This should give the north-east a stronger voice. When two northern rail franchises¹⁷ come up for renewal¹⁸ in 2016 local authorities will play a larger part in the bidding process.

In many ways the region is lagging 20 years behind everywhere else, thinks Penny Marshall, the regional director of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the north-east.

Though car ownership per head is low, it is catching¹⁹ up with the national average.

The shabbiness of public transport is pushing people onto crowded roads. “It would be nice to get it right before it gets worse,” she says.

1 advert   

vi.注意，留意，言及；n.广告

参考例句：

• The advert featured a dolphin swimming around a goldfish bowl.该广告的內容为一条在金鱼缸里游动的海豚。
• Please advert to the contents below.I believe you won't be disappointed.敬请留意后面的内容。相信您一定不会失望的。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

4 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

5 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

6 antipathy   

n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物

参考例句：

• I feel an antipathy against their behaviour.我对他们的行为很反感。
• Some people have an antipathy to cats.有的人讨厌猫。

7 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

8 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

9 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

10 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

11 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

12 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

13 electrified   

v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The railway line was electrified in the 1950s. 这条铁路线在20世纪50年代就实现了电气化。
• The national railway system has nearly all been electrified. 全国的铁路系统几乎全部实现了电气化。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。

15 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

16 glaze   

v.因疲倦、疲劳等指眼睛变得呆滞，毫无表情

参考例句：

• Brush the glaze over the top and sides of the hot cake.在热蛋糕的顶上和周围刷上一层蛋浆。
• Tang three-color glaze horses are famous for their perfect design and realism.唐三彩上釉马以其造型精美和形态生动而著名。

17 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句

18 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

19 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。