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461 points axelfontaine | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.218s | source
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indiantinker ◴[] No.44039714[source]
TBH, it seems like a questionable way to spend EU money. Technically, it's fascinating, but unless it's part of a broader geopolitical or long-term interoperability strategy, it's hard to justify the costs.

In Spain, we already deal with both Iberian and standard gauges—trains like the Talgo models can change gauges with minimal delay. It's not seamless, but it works reasonably well. Spain also has the world's second largest high speed train network.

What the EU could really benefit from is greater support for small companies and independent freelancers who are driving innovation. Unfortunately, governments (Spain included) often treat them as revenue sources, with high taxes and complex regulations, while large corporations can navigate around much of that with ease.

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varsketiz ◴[] No.44039728[source]
The goal is defence - to prevent easy russian train logistics deep into Finland.
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burmanm ◴[] No.44040798[source]
Far easier is to just destroy the train tracks with explosives that connect between Finland and Russia (or demolish them like done in Salla after letting them rot).

There's no defensive reason for this other than in the cabinet talks.

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1. inglor_cz ◴[] No.44043783[source]
IIRC Russian army had, prior to the outbreak of the current war, several tens of thousands of soldiers specialized just in emergency railway construction and repairs. IDK how many remain now.

Russians aren't stupid, they know that the enemy will try to destroy the tracks when retreating, so they train to fix/bypass the problems quickly.

That includes some transportable improvised bridges ready for deployment.