Cross-Cultural Communication in Transport Industry

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ТРАНСПОРТА  

РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 

 

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ 

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО 

ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ 

«РОССИЙСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ТРАНСПОРТА 

(МИИТ)» 

 
 

Институт экономики и финансов 

 

Кафедра «Лингвистика» 

 
 
 
 

Л.А. Чернышова, Н.А. Заломова 

 
 
 
 

Cross-Cultural Communication  

in Transport Industry  

 

Учебно-методическое пособие 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

МОСКВА - 2018 

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ТРАНСПОРТА  

РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ 

 

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ 

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО 

ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ 

«РОССИЙСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ТРАНСПОРТА 

(МИИТ)» 

 
 

Институт экономики и финансов 

 

Кафедра «Лингвистика» 

 
 
 
 

Л.А. Чернышова, Н.А. Заломова 

  
 

Cross-Cultural Communication  

in Transport Industry 

 
  

Учебно-методическое пособие  

для студентов-бакалавров  

направления «Лингвистика» 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

МОСКВА - 2018

УДК 42 
Ч 49 
 
         Чернышова 
Л.А., 
Заломова 
Н.А. 
Cross-Cultural 

Communication in Transport Industry: Учебно-методическое 
пособие. 
Для 
студентов-бакалавров 
направления 

«Лингвистика». – М.: РУТ (МИИТ), 2018. - 179 с.  
 
          Учебно-методическое 
пособие 
предлагает 

комплексное 
рассмотрение 
различных 
аспектов 

современного транспорта с позиции межкультурной 
коммуникации. Англоязычный языковой материал разбит 
на разделы. Пособие содержит ряд практических заданий, 
способствующих развитию межкультурной компетенции. 
Адресовано студентам транспортных вузов, а также 
широкому 
кругу 
лиц, 
интересующихся 
проблемами 

транспорта и межкультурной коммуникации. 
 

Рецензент:    кандидат филологических наук, доцент                 
                      заведующий кафедрой «Иностранные языки-4»   
                      ИТТСУ РУТ (МИИТ) Сачкова Е.В. 

 

 

©РУТ (МИИТ), 2018 

 
 
 
 
 

Contents 

 

UNIT 1. ROLE OF TRANSPORT IN SOCIETY. …………..4 

UNIT 2. LAND TRANSPORTAION ………………………16 

UNIT 3 MARITIME AND AIR TRANSPORTATION…….34 

UNIT 4. MULTIMODAL vs INTERMODAL 

TRANSPORTATION……………………………………….48 

UNIT 5. HIGH-SPEED RAIL (HSR)……...………………..54 

UNIT 6. RAIL TRACK ……………….…………………….72 

UNIT 7. ROLLING STOCK ……………………..................88 

UNIT 8. PASSENGER ROLLING STOCK ………………..94 

UNIT 9. FREIGHT ROLLING STOCK …………………..120 

SUPPLIMENTARY TEXTS ………………………………140 

References ………………………………………………….177 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

UNIT 1. ROLE OF TRANSPORT IN SOCIETY 

Transportation is the activity of moving people or 
things from one place to another, or the system used 
for doing this 
(https://www.macmillandictionary.com/). 

Text 1 

Efficient transport is a critical component of economic 
development, globally and nationally. Transport 
availability affects global development patterns and 
can be a boost or a barrier to economic growth within 
individual nations. Transportation investments link 
factors of production together in a web of 
relationships between producers and consumers to 
create a more efficient division of production, 
leverage geographical comparative advantage, and 
provide the means to expand economies of scale and 
scope. 
Transport’s 
contribution 
to 
economic 

development includes the following: 

Network 
effects 
– 
linking 
more 
locations 

exponentially increases the value and effectiveness of 
transport: 

Performance improvements – reducing cost and time 
for existing passenger and freight movements increase 
transport’s contribution to economic growth. 

Reliability – improves time performance and reduces 
loss and damage, thus reducing economic drag. 

Market size-access to wider markets adds to 
economies of scale in production, distribution, and 
consumption, thereby increasing economic growth. 

Productivity – transport increases productivity gained 
from access to a larger and more diverse base of 
inputs such as raw materials, parts, energy, and labor, 
and broader markets for more diverse outputs. 

Text 2 

Transport 
makes 
raw 
materials 
available 
to 

manufacturers or producers, since it makes it possible 
to carry raw materials from places where they are 
available, to places where they can be processed and 
assembled into finished goods.  

Transport makes possible movement of goods from 
one place to another with great ease and speed.  

It enhances standard of living: easy means of transport 
facilitates large-scale production at low costs. It gives 
consumers the choice to make use of different 
quantities of goods at different prices. So it raises the 
standard of living of the people.  

It helps during emergencies and natural calamities.  

Transport helps in creation of employment: It provides 
employment opportunity to individuals as drivers, 
conductors, pilots, cabin crew, captain of the ship, etc. 
who are directly engaged in transport business. It also 
provides employment to people indirectly in the 
industries producing various means of transport and 
other transport equipment.  

Transport helps in labour mobility.  

It helps in bringing nations together. Since transport 
facilitates movement of people from one country to 
another, it helps in exchange of cultures, views and 
practices between the people of different countries. 
This brings about greater understanding among people 
and awareness about different countries. Thus, it helps 
to promote a feeling of international brotherhood. 

Text 3 

While many of the social and economic impacts of 
transportation are positive, there are also significant 
societal challenges: 
Cost differences. Locations that have low levels of 
accessibility tend to have higher costs for many goods. 
This can play at several geographical scales, from the 
national to the local. For landlocked countries most of 
the goods have to be imported through an intermediate 
country, often over long distances. The resulting 
higher transport costs inhibit the competitiveness of 
such locations and limits opportunities.  
Congestion. With the increased use of transport 
systems, it has become common for parts of the 
network to be used above design capacity. Congestion 
is the outcome of such a situation with its associated 
costs, delays and waste of energy   
Accidents. 
The 
use 
of 
transport 
modes 
and 

infrastructure is never entirely safe. Due to human 
errors and various forms of physical failures 
(mechanical or infrastructural) injuries, damages and 
even death occur. Accidents tend to be proportional to 
the intensity of use of transport infrastructures which 
means with more traffic the higher the probability for 
an accident to occur. The respective level of safety 

depends on the mode of transport and the speed at 
which an accident occurs. No mode is completely safe 
but the road remains the riskiest mode for 
transportation, accounting for 90% of all transport 
accidents on average. At the global level, about 1.25 
million people died in road accidents in 2013, in 
addition to 50 million injuries. Although the number 
of deaths due to car accidents is declining in 
developed countries, in developing economies, death 
rates are usually at least twice as high as those of 
developed countries and account for close to 90% of 
all deaths. China has the world largest number of 
fatalities, 250,000 in 2013, a situation mainly due to a 
sharp growth in vehicle ownership in recent years, a 
lack of driver education and  
Environmental Transportation Challenges 
The mobility provided by transport activities has a 
wide range of environmental consequences. A society 
becomes more aware of environmental concerns and 
has less tolerance for its negative impacts: 
Air quality. Atmospheric emissions from pollutants 
produced transportation, especially by the internal 
combustion engine, are associated with air pollution 
and global climate change. In urban regions, about 

50% of all air pollution emanates from automobile 
traffic. 
Noise. A major irritant, noise can impact on human 
health and most often human welfare. Noise can be 
manifested in three levels depending on emissions 
intensity; psychological disturbances (perturbations, 
displeasure), functional disturbances (sleep disorders, 
loss of work productivity, speech interference) or 
physiological disturbances (health issues such as 
fatigue, and hearing damage). Noise and vibration 
associated with trains, trucks, and planes in the 
vicinity of airports are major irritants and have 
commonly been associated with lower land values 
since it makes those location less desirable. 
Water quality. Accidental and nominal runoff of 
pollutants from transport such as oil spills, are sources 
of contamination for both surface water and 
groundwater. In addition, paved surfaces are more 
prone to floods with intense rainfall. 
Land take. Transport is a large consumer of space 
when all of its supporting infrastructure and 
equipment are considered. This space is subject to 
competition between other activities and reflects 
societal values. The most common way for a society 
to mitigate the environmental externalities of