Russia railroad loading is falling (cdn.bsky.app)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by MrMakabar@slrpnk.net to c/ukraine@sopuli.xyz

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For a long write up with more data and some reasons for it:

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ql4ykel4bgsqzslwsa3lflh2/post/3lcdewkbmf22w

Keep in mind Russia is a massive country and trains are amazing at transporting freight over long distances. So they have a lot of regions and industries depending on the railroad. Much more so then in most other countries. Some places can hardly be reached by road, but can be reached on train.

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[-] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 10 points 3 weeks ago

Can't run trains without bearings for the train wheels and nearly all of those kinds of bearings are made in the west.

Obviously the "4 days from collapse" in that article was exaggerated but the lack of maintenance parts, like bearings, is obviously taking its toll on the Russian train system.

Oh and China can't make good ones either. They found that out the hard way when they screwed Germany.

[-] RandomGen1@lemm.ee 6 points 3 weeks ago

Bit of additional information, train wheels use double tapered roller bearings, not ball bearings. They're notably much harder to produce in good quality

[-] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, I kind of confused the two. The problem is mostly in the ball bearings but the races they go in also require tight tolerances and metal hardness that 2nd rate manufacturers can't really match.