Passage 2

 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 made the railways unnecessary. We all keep hearing that trains are slow, that they lose money, and that they’re dying. But this is far from the truth. In these days when oil is expensive, the railways have become highly competitive with motorcars and planes. If you want to carry people or goods from place to place, they’re cheaper than planes.

Railways have much in common with planes. A plane goes in a straight line and so does a railway. What is more, it takes you from the heart of a city into the heart of another. But a railway doesn’t leave you as a plane does, miles and miles away from the city center. It doesn’t hold you up as a motorcar does, in endless traffic jams. And a single train can carry goods which no plane or motorcar could ever do. 

Far from being dead, the railways are very much alive. Modern railway lines give you a smooth, untroubled journey. Where else can you eat well, sleep in comfort, feel safe and enjoy the scene while you are traveling at speed at the same time? And we are only at the beginning. We have entered the age of super fast trains, traveling at 150 miles an hour and more. Soon we will be wondering why we spend so much on motorways we can’t use because we don’t have enough money to buy oil and planes we can’t fly for the same reason.

Some people think the railways are dead for many reasons except that ______.