1 . Recently it has dawned on the government that closing more than 1,000 of England’s railway station ticket offices would not be very smart politics.The transport secretary, Mark Harper,announced that train operators had been asked to withdraw the cost-cutting strategy, which the government itself had originally pushed on them.The writing was already on the wall in the summer,when public anger led to an extension of the consultation period on the proposed closures.By the time it ended,750,000 responses had been recorded,99%of them negative.

The public’s concerns were over future access to travel advice and information,assistance for disabled people,safety at understaffed stations,and consequences for the digitally excluded. But the passionate opposition also underlined a widespread sense that railway stations must be more than transit(交通)zones.Combined with a reformed ticketing system,that insight should now inform a positive approach to breathing life into England’s railways and attracting more people back on to trains.

As a report published this autumn by the Campaign for Better Transport sets out,there is an urgent case for fairer ticketing reform across the network.For over a decade,the relative cost of taking the train rather than the car has skyrocketed,as fares have risen while fuel duty has been frozen.Over a third of the public are confused by the numerous types of ticket available,and the complex regulations that apply to them.Why should an anytime return from Chelmsford to London cost &32.60,when to cover the same distance from Grays to London costs E 13.40?

The failed attempt to shut down ticket offices had its roots in a short-term ministerial response to falling revenues(收入).But as the country strives to achieve a challenging green transition,the government should work to establish a simpler,fairer ticketing system that offers imaginative rewards to take the train;and to develop an ambitious plan for our stations —one that reflects their important role in the lives of the travelling public.

2 . China State Railway Group has recently implemented an updated timetable for freight trains traveling between China and Europe. This change _________ to enhance the stability of transport times, boost efficiency, and promote trade between Asia and Europe. The revised _________ comprises five regular weekly freight train services along designated routes, allowing for precise determination of travel _________ between cities.

For instance, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, a freight train embarks from Xi’an, China, destined for Duisburg, Germany, and returns to Xi’an on Tuesdays. Likewise, every Saturday, a freight train _________ from Chengdu, China, bound for Lodz, Poland, with the return journey commencing on Thursdays.

_________ typical China-Europe freight trains, this new offering introduces fixed carriages, routes, shifts, and consistent schedules across all route segments. This ensures greater control _________ operational timings and leads to improved efficiency. As a result, the updated schedule has decreased travel time by approximately 30% _________ to other China-Europe freight trains, providing customers with swifter delivery of their _________.

Furthermore, the fixed schedules and enhanced efficiency of this new service _________ the quality of service, guaranteeing more dependable and punctual transportation. The consistent transport times afforded by the revised schedule contribute to the ____________ of global industrial and supply chains, thereby facilitating smoother international ____________.

Looking ____________, China State Railway Group intends to expand its network of fixed-schedule ____________ to further enhance the quality of China-Europe freight train services. This will strengthen the role of freight trains as a dependable alternative to sea and ____________ freight, supporting the seamless operation of international industrial supply chains.

In summary, the revised schedule of China-Europe freight trains marks a substantial leap forward in enhancing efficiency and ____________ in international freight transportation. This development contributes significantly to the stability and prosperity of global trade.

3 . Over the past decade, more and more travelers have been embracing the idea of slow travel. One of the most popular methods of slow travel, if you have the time, is by rail. Here are our picks for some of the best train rides in the world.

The Glacier Express

The Glacier Express takes more than eight hours to cross the 180-mile journey between Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland at an average of 18 mph. The classic red train journey brings you to Europe’s mountains at their very best — with views of snow-covered forests and peaks included!

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Running through Tamil Nadu State, the train is the slowest in India due to an extremely steep gradient on the route. It takes nearly five hours to cover a distance of 46 km. Clearly nobody uses the NMR to get from A to B, but for the sheer joy of riding in a train that passes through 16 tunnels, 250 bridges and 208 steep curves on the richly biodiverse Western Ghats mountain range.

No. 6063/6064

With a length of 257 kilometers, the highly popular “small-and-slow train” route winds through the Qinling Mountains, linking 13 stations at the highest cost of 39.5 yuan. Villagers take the train to sell their vegetables in nearby counties to add to their families’ income. Helping poverty alleviation and carrying students to schools, the rail line, running for over 60 years, is a guarantee of and witness to the wish for a better life of the people along its route.

Royal Scotsman

With the full length of 1930 kilometers, the Royal Scotsman marries Edwardian elegance with the comforts of a five-star country house. The train includes elegant lounges, comfortable suites, and an open observation deck. The 9-coach train carries a just 36 passengers maximum with a passenger to staff ratio of 1:3. One of the coaches is the amazing Bamford Spa offering something of a palace on wheels.

6 . When driving, Clara-Marina Martinez takes down any unusual behaviour she sees on the road. She then feeds these into machine-learning algorithms (算法), a form of AI, which are intended to produce a system reliable enough for a car to drive itself without any disturbance from the driver, and cope with all situations on the road. But this proving hard to achieve, carmakers choose to scale back many attempts to do so. Last year, for instance, Uber, a ride-hailing service, sold off its unit developing self-driving cars at a low price.

8 . Researchers have proposed a novel method for counting and tracking vehicles on public roads, a development that could improve current traffic systems and help travelers get to their destinations faster.

Using the cameras already installed on campus buses at the Ohio State University, researchers proved that they could automatically and accurately measure counts of vehicles on urban roadways, detect objects in the road and distinguish parked vehicles from those that are moving.

In previous studies, Ohio State researchers found that using these mobile cameras provides much better spatial and temporal (时间的) coverage than relying on often temporarily placed sensors that don’t provide a view of many streets and roads in a city.

“If we collect and process more high-resolution (高清) spatial information about what’s happening on the roads, then planners could better understand changes in demand, effectively improving efficiency in the broader transportation system,” said Keith Redmill, lead author of the study.

“If we can measure traffic in a way that is as good or better than what is conventionally done with fixed sensors, then we will have created something incredibly useful extremely cheaply,” he said. “Our goal is to start building a system that could do this without much manual intervention because if you want to collect this information over lots of potential vehicles and lots of time, it’s worth fully automating that process.”

While still a long way from total implementation (实施), the study suggests the system’s results bear promise for the future of intelligent traffic surveillance. Transportation planners, engineers and operators make vital decisions about the future of our roadways, so when designing transportation systems to work over the next 30 to 50 years, it’s necessary that we give them data that allows them to improve the efficiency of the system and the level of service provided to travelers.