most of the EU’s frontier has non-European gauge track
Adapting to Western track gauge (thus also not running on the standard Russia uses for their logistics would indeed be a worthwhile investment in a countries defense, doubling also as a investment into civilian transport capabilities.
Second, rail infrastructure can be destroyed and it is generally harder to get rail infrastructure back up after being bombed
Reality disagrees, heavily so as Russia is demonstrating for years now. And you’re probably underestimating the complexity of keeping runways of a quality, width and length to support heavy transports operational. Anti-runway bombs and missiles are a whole class of weapons developed just for that reason.
PS: Speaking of… is this not accurate?
Sorry to tell you, but given the existence of Kaliningrad and Belarus the actual front line will not be far from Poland. (And Scandinavia and Finland are mostly irrelevant for this discussion as neither flight nor rail will be the primary mode of transportation to get there.)
Regarding adapting non-Western gauge track, it is worth making the transition. The item that I addressed and you dodged is timeline.
Regarding Russia rebuilding its rail infrastructure, Russia has invested a significant amount of money in military engineering brigades to repair rail corridors. Also, Russia isn’t fighting off an invading force.
You’re still leaving out Finland and the Baltics. It also depends on what Russia may attempt to take back. Putin’s current goals appears to be reestablishing control over Soviet territory. That puts the Baltics at risk. You could see Russia attempt to take the Baltics similar to how it took the Crimean Peninsula and make the EU choose if it is worth it to conduct a war to liberate the Baltics like Ukraine had to debate liberate the Crimean Peninsula.
I explicitly mentioned Finland (transport by ship instead of rail or air) and implicitly addressed the Baltics as any attack on them will start with an attempt to close the Suwalki gap between Kalinigrad and Belarus, which makes Eastern Poland the front line.
and you dodged is timeline
Some rail lines in the Baltics were already reworked, some were build new, years ago with a new track guage not matching the former Russian one but intentionally not to EU standard. So I’m not addressing the timeline because there was obviously no interest in the first place.
Adapting to Western track gauge (thus also not running on the standard Russia uses for their logistics would indeed be a worthwhile investment in a countries defense, doubling also as a investment into civilian transport capabilities.
Reality disagrees, heavily so as Russia is demonstrating for years now. And you’re probably underestimating the complexity of keeping runways of a quality, width and length to support heavy transports operational. Anti-runway bombs and missiles are a whole class of weapons developed just for that reason.
PS: Speaking of… is this not accurate?
Sorry to tell you, but given the existence of Kaliningrad and Belarus the actual front line will not be far from Poland. (And Scandinavia and Finland are mostly irrelevant for this discussion as neither flight nor rail will be the primary mode of transportation to get there.)
Regarding adapting non-Western gauge track, it is worth making the transition. The item that I addressed and you dodged is timeline.
Regarding Russia rebuilding its rail infrastructure, Russia has invested a significant amount of money in military engineering brigades to repair rail corridors. Also, Russia isn’t fighting off an invading force.
You’re still leaving out Finland and the Baltics. It also depends on what Russia may attempt to take back. Putin’s current goals appears to be reestablishing control over Soviet territory. That puts the Baltics at risk. You could see Russia attempt to take the Baltics similar to how it took the Crimean Peninsula and make the EU choose if it is worth it to conduct a war to liberate the Baltics like Ukraine had to debate liberate the Crimean Peninsula.
I explicitly mentioned Finland (transport by ship instead of rail or air) and implicitly addressed the Baltics as any attack on them will start with an attempt to close the Suwalki gap between Kalinigrad and Belarus, which makes Eastern Poland the front line.
Some rail lines in the Baltics were already reworked, some were build new, years ago with a new track guage not matching the former Russian one but intentionally not to EU standard. So I’m not addressing the timeline because there was obviously no interest in the first place.