Equal investment on railways and roads?: IELTS 2

Question:

Governments should spend more money on railways rather than roads.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

There is a view that governments should inject more investments in a railway system than a road one. Although railway transport is critical to the economic development of a country, I would argue that road transport is of the equal importance.

The first reason why governments should not prioritize railway over roadway construction is the huge initial investment. Firstly, to build and operate a railway system, governments shall have to approve a large national-level construction project which requires a lot of time, money and manpower. Secondly, the cost for running and maintaining the system is also enormous. For example, in Romania, the proposed budget for upgrading the railway system from 2018 to 2020 is larger than 11 billion Euros. This cost requirement may not be considered affordable in many countries, especially developing countries where there are several other urgent pressing needs for the governments' budget.

The second reason why the road system should also be invested equally lies in its flexibility. Firstly, installment investments in a build-and-operate road system are possible while a railway system requires across-the-board investment and construction before operation. For example, developing countries can partly build its road system of which each part can be put into use upon completion. In addition, a road transport provides more flexibility in terms of door-to-door services and the volumes of goods transported while railways cannot.

In conclusion, a railway system is a large-project that needs a lot of money and manpower investments while a road system requires lesser funding at a times and proves to be more flexible. Therefore, both systems should be equally invested by governments to meet the efficient transport needs of a country.

Crystal, kindly familiarize yourself with the various discussion methods by which the Task 2 essay is completed. When considering a response to an extent question, you must only consider the original topic for discussion in relation to the question. You should not change the discussion topic as you did in this presentation. That is why this essay cannot receive a passing score. You went off topic during the discussion:

Topic: Governments should spend more money on railways rather than roads.
Instruction: To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Your Topic: Although railway transport is critical to the economic development of a country...
Response: I would argue that road transport is of the equal importance.

As you can see from the outline, you changed both the discussion topic and you failed to respond to the question being asked. This shows a lack of English comprehension skills or a disregard for instructions provided. Either way, you can assure yourself of a failing score in the TA section, which, due to the wrong discussion format, will completely lead to a failing score had this been an actual test.

Many thanks for your valuable comments.