At this rate they will decline to US rail network levels. You’d think their neighbor to the southeast might do something about it. Isn’t Russia part of BRI?
The sanctions have contributed to a ball-bearing shortage in Russia, which has affected locomotive maintenance in the country. This has led to a rise in malfunctions on the network’s trains and an increase in the number of vehicles being suspended, Russian newspapers Vedomosti and Kommersant reported in February and March this year.
The VChK-OGPU outlet, which is widely believed to have ties to Russian security agencies, reported Monday, citing an unnamed source, that the railway network's deputy head Sergei Kobzev told his subordinates at an internal meeting "that the situation is critical."
"The complete collapse of the entire railroad network in the country could happen in days," the channel said. "[Russian Railways] chiefs have been ordered to work to the point of exhaustion. Those who fail to cope are threatened with dismissal and 'execution.' This is the motivation."
Russia's Justice Ministry added VChK-OGPU to its "foreign agents" register earlier this month for "dissemination of false information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian army."
Igor Sushko is a Ukrainian military blogger and the executive director of the Wind of Change Research Group. He shared what he alleged was a leaked audio clip of a meeting between Kobzev and his subordinates, in which he says that the "Russian rail network is on the precipice of total collapse."
Smells of propaganda but fuck Russia hopefully their rail system collapses though.