Task 2 - Cambridge 11 Test 1 - Spending More Money on Railways than Roads (Agree Disagree)

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic.

Governments should spend more money on railways rather than roads.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Give reasons for your answers and include any relevant examples based on your knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words


MODEL ESSAY:

Technology is fast-growing and environmental issues, as well as their effect on climate change, are highly discussed around the globe. For these reasons and much more, I highly agree that governments should concentrate their finances more on constructing railways than roads for the simple reason that the former is much more environmentally and economically friendly.

To begin with, if governments invest in road construction, this will lead to increased pollution of the atmosphere. The reason is that cars and buses use fossil fuels such as petrol, benzine, gas oil, and eventually release toxic gases into the atmosphere. Trains, on the contrary, use electricity which is less harmful to the environment. Secondly, in these modern times, there is high competition in the world which requires that people move faster, get to their destinations quicker in order to gain time and money. Trains are for certain much faster and more effective than roads. For example, a traffic jam in a city will take a longer time to resolve than a railway breakdown. Finally, if governments invest more money on roads, communication will be made much easier as well as transportation in and out of cities and countries.

In my opinion, railways are more effective and more environmentally friendly than roads. It will cost less for governments to invest in railway maintenance than in road maintenance. Furthermore, railways have a capacity to cross overseas and borders which may not be very practical with roads.

In conclusion, I agree with the point of view that governments should invest much more in constructing intercity railways as they would use up less time, energy and money.

270 words

Band 8

Ya-Ngoye