Ukrainian Armed Forces strike railway tracks in Kursk's Lgov, says mayor

According to Klemeshov, four arrivals were recorded in the city. Two residential buildings and the railway tracks of the Lgov-Kyiv station were damaged. There was also a fire in a warehouse of one of the city's factories. No residents were injured.

“I do not recommend that anyone who left the city return until the situation has finally stabilized,” the mayor wrote.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Additional:

This is what it takes to break up actual railroads: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_plough

Note that these things were pulled by two locomotives, and moved at roughly a brisk walking pace. It's VERY hard to destroy a railroad.

[–] ILikeTraaaains 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In use, the plough is lowered to rip up the middle of the track as it is hauled along by a locomotive. This action breaks the wooden ties (sleepers) which forces the steel rails out of alignment, making the line impassable by later rail vehicles.

In a lot of places the wood has been replaced by reinforced concrete, I’m not sure if the ploughs can be used anymore.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I'm not a railroad person, but the locomotives have gotten bigger too

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

A much safer (for the perpetrators) and effective way would be to unscrew a number of the locking bolts, which could be done at night, in silence, even with hand tools, on the outward side of the rails in a curve.

I live near a train station, and over a number of days they replaced hundreds of the traverses, in place, working at night. Simply unbolting a few tens I think would make the trick. Having a few cargo trains derail could wreak major havoc.

If combined with a couple of cuts to the track (easily done with a battery angle grinder, under a 100€) the damage would be amplified.