幽靈列車之旅

Tim Hall-Smith (Ghost Train hunter): Just， to…to me it’s a 1)quirky British thing. It’s…only…only we’d have this， only we’d have this in this country， I think.

Joss Rankin (Northern Rail， Public Relation): These trains are known as “ghost trains” or“parliamentary check trains.” They’re run on the line to keep it open and to keep the line viable. Tim: Some people call them “parliamentaries”and other people call them “ghost trains.”Most mainly call them “ghost trains” because there’s never anybody on them and they run at 2)obscure times of day， and usually， when you get to the other end， you can probably guarantee there’s no chance of a decent connection.

蒂姆·霍爾·史密斯（幽靈列車搜尋者）：只是，對……對我來說，這是一件英國奇聞。這……只有……只有我們才會發生這種事，只有在我們這個國家才有這種事發生，我是這么想的。喬斯·蘭金（北部鐵路公司公關部）：這種列車被稱為“幽靈列車”或者“議會列車”，它們在鐵路線上行駛，保持線路的開通，使線路能繼續運營。

蒂姆：有些人稱它們為“議會列車”，另一些人稱它們“幽靈列車”。稱它們為“幽靈列車”主要是因為列車上往往沒有任何人，而且列車在一天中比較僻靜的時間運行。通常，當你到達終點時，就大概能斷定那里……那里找不到像樣的交通轉接。

Here we have 1517， Helsbee to Ellesmere Port， parliamentary ghost train， and， as you can see， nobody on it.

Joss: Well， the service between Stockport and Stalybridge has gradually been reduced over time before our franchise began in 2004.

Alan Jones (Friends of Denton Station): This is a once-a-week service to Stalybridge， and they call it“the parliamentary train.” The idea was that rather than close the line down altogether， it was cheaper to run a once-a-week service than go through all the legal process.

Tim: With all the expense of public enquiries and closure procedures， it’s just easier and cheaper， as mad as it sounds， for the train companies just to run a limited as…limited service as possible. It doesn’t matter if it goes in one direction once a week on a Saturday at midnight; doesn’t matter.

Joss: We would never want to shut the line down because of the fact it offers us such flexibility. It allows us to move trains around the network easier and with less end-result delays on our passengers.

Noel Henry (Friends of Reddish South): The service tends to be just 3)enthusiasts， because it’s a one train a week. There’s quite few enthusiasts who like to travel the country to travel on these special trains， as it were.

這是從赫爾斯比開往埃爾斯米爾港的列車，車號1517，這正是議會幽靈列車。正如你所見到的，車上一個人也沒有。

喬斯：在2004年我們取得經營權開始運營之前，斯托克波特與斯泰利布里奇之間的列車服務就已經隨著時間的推移逐步減少了。

艾倫·瓊斯（丹頓車站之友）：這是每周一次去斯泰利布里奇的列車，人們稱它為“議會列車”。這么做的理由是：與其停運整條線路，不如保持每周運行一次，因為在成本上這樣做比停運線路要走的眾多法律程序更加劃算。

蒂姆：算上公眾咨詢、關閉程序等費用，這樣做會更省事和更省錢。這聽起來不可思議，但對鐵路公司來說，只需運行最低限度的班次就可以了。不管它是否只是在每周六的午夜只向一個方向開行一趟車，這都沒有問題。

喬斯：因為這樣做給了我們更多的靈活性，我們不會打算停運線路。