幽灵列车之旅

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·霍尔·史密斯（幽灵列车搜寻者）：只是，对……对我来说，这是一件英国奇闻。这……只有……只有我们才会发生这种事，只有在我们这个国家才有这种事发生，我是这么想的。乔斯·兰金（北部铁路公司公关部）：这种列车被称为“幽灵列车”或者“议会列车”，它们在铁路线上行驶，保持线路的开通，使线路能继续运营。

蒂姆：有些人称它们为“议会列车”，另一些人称它们“幽灵列车”。称它们为“幽灵列车”主要是因为列车上往往没有任何人，而且列车在一天中比较僻静的时间运行。通常，当你到达终点时，就大概能断定那里……那里找不到像样的交通转接。

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.

这是从赫尔斯比开往埃尔斯米尔港的列车，车号1517，这正是议会幽灵列车。正如你所见到的，车上一个人也没有。

乔斯：在2004年我们取得经营权开始运营之前，斯托克波特与斯泰利布里奇之间的列车服务就已经随着时间的推移逐步减少了。

艾伦·琼斯（丹顿车站之友）：这是每周一次去斯泰利布里奇的列车，人们称它为“议会列车”。这么做的理由是：与其停运整条线路，不如保持每周运行一次，因为在成本上这样做比停运线路要走的众多法律程序更加划算。

蒂姆：算上公众咨询、关闭程序等费用，这样做会更省事和更省钱。这听起来不可思议，但对铁路公司来说，只需运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个方向开行一趟车，这都没有问题。

乔斯：因为这样做给了我们更多的灵活性，我们不会打算停运线路。这灵活性使我们在铁路网中更方便地调动列车，使乘客更少延误。

诺尔·亨利（雷迪什南站之友）：这类列车往往只有爱好者乘坐，因为这是一周只有一趟的列车。只有很少发烧友喜欢乘坐这些特殊的车次在乡村旅游，他们喜欢这么做。

So here’s Reddish-South, which is the one train a week we have at 9:26. The friends of Reddish-South and Denton are trying to get service into Manchester Victoria so it can be used more for getting to work, to shop and 4)RT even in for leisure purposes.

Joss: It’s something we’re more than happy to discuss with…with friends, of groups and supporters of the line. It’s just making time to get together and seeing exactly what passengers in that specific region need. Conductor: Ticket please. Tim: There you go. Cheers, mate.

My partner’s pretty keen on it. I mean, I took her on first trip she ever did was Teesside Airport in Middlesbrough, and we’ve done…and since then she’s got hooked, and every time I go out on these trips, she likes to come along.

Here we are; Ellesmere Port, journey’s end. Nobody got on; nobody got off, just me on the train, and my next project will be Whitley Bridge on the Norton Lea to Goole line, in the next few months, hopefully.

这里是雷迪南站，在这个站有一班每周一次的列车在9点26分开出。雷迪什南站和丹顿站的乘客正在力争将线路延长至曼彻斯特维多利亚，使更多人能乘这趟车去上班，去购物，去转乘便捷交通系统，甚至去休闲旅游。

乔斯：这是一件我们十分乐意与……与乘客、社团和线路的支持者讨论的事。我们正要定出时间召集大家讨论，看看什么是某个区域中的乘客所真正需要的。

售票员：请出示你的车票。

蒂姆：在这里。谢谢，伙计。

我的伴侣很热衷于乘坐这种列车，我第一次带她去坐的线路是在米德尔斯堡的蒂赛德机场。后来，我们乘坐……从那次以后她也迷上了，每次我乘坐这类幽灵列车，她都跟随我一起去。

现在来到埃尔斯米尔港，这趟列车的终点站。没有人上车，也没有人下车，只有我在列车上。我的下一个计划是在未来几个月内，乘坐从诺顿里的惠特利大桥到古尔的线路。希望能成行。

翻译：Wendy