6 Read the text and fill in the gaps with the prepositions from the box below. Translate the text.

through at (2) for (2) by (2) per (2) in (2) of (2) on with (2) below

Eurotunnel Freight runs rail freight services … the Channel Tunnel. Lorries are loaded onto wagons … one terminus and unloaded … the terminus on the other side. The train journey lasts 35 minutes. At $400 … a one-way crossing, the price is higher than … ferry. Containers or unaccompanied trailers cannot be carried. Dangerous loads can be carried but not large, abnormal loads.

However, there are advantages … using the tunnel. First, the journeys are quicker and loading and unloading takes less time. Train journeys are more frequent than ferry crossings. There are between three and six departures … hour, compared … one … hour … ferry sailings. Finally, the trains are not affected … the weather, … 94 per cent … trains departing … time. … winter, fog and high winds can cause delay or cancellations … ferry services. However, trains continue to operate … the Channel whatever the weather.

Unit 19 freight on british rail and the channel tunnel

Over the years freight on British Rail had become increasingly characterized by bulk movements, mostly moved in trainload consignments for specific customers. A relatively limited commodity base was involved. The baseload traffic was mostly coal, metals, minerals, building aggregates and declining amounts of oil and chemicals. Major users were normally required to make significant investments in rail freight facilities and equipment. In many cases, wagons were privately owned by the rail freight customers rather than provided by the operator, a pattern reinforced as older wagons were replaced by more modern counterparts. The remaining rail freight business in wagonload and less than trainload consignments was reorganized and rebranded as the „Speedlink” network. It continued to decline, until it was abandoned in the late 1990s. A consequence of this abandonment was that many terminals used solely as part of the „Speedlink” network fell into disuse. Few railway-owned freight terminals remained in active use.

Terminals still in use tended to fall into one of the following categories: 1) privately owned rail facilities at industrial establishments such as factories, mines, quarries, distribution depots and to some extent ports. Such terminals are typically dedicated to handling the freight to or from those establishments, and are not normally available for the handling of traffic for third party customers. 2) Freightliner terminals are used as part of the network of container train services. These terminals are equipped solely for the transfer of containerized freight between road and rail, though in some cases container storage is available. 3) Very limited numbers of rail-connected terminals operated by independent companies. For many people in the rail industry, the opening of the Channel Tunnel was expected to herald the start of a new era for rail freight in Great Britain. Prior to the tunnel, rail freight between mainland Europe and Great Britain was restricted to two rail ferry routes, neither of which is still in operation. With the opening of the Tunnel, three new freight services commenced: 1) the ‘Shuttle’ service, where road vehicles are ‘piggybacked’ onto trains solely for the Tunnel transit, in direct competition with the ferry services on the Dover Straits; 2) through rail services, normally dedicated to one bulk commodity or one major customer (international movements of new cars by rail); 3) scheduled wagonload and intermodal freight services between inland locations in mainland Europe and the UK.