Commuting to work

Many people in Britain live a long way from their work. They often travel by train from the suburbs into the town centre to work. These people are commuters. Some people travel more than 200 miles every day and spend up to two hours going to work and two hours going home. Train tickets may appear to be expensive (£ 2,500 a year for an annual season ticket from Brighton to London), but this form of transport is a fast and environmentally friendly alternative to using a car. People who don't drive to work are able to read a newspaper or a book. Some commuters even get out their laptop computers and work.

On some trains, there are study clubs which offer language lessons to commuters on their way to and from work.

The trains which run on main line routes are Intercity 125s (one-two-fives) or 225s (two-two-fives). 125s travel at 125 miles per hour (201 kph) and 225s travel at 140 miles per hour (225 kph).

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 70