this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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I find it interesting that there's a noticeable difference in rail density between western Europe and former Warsaw pact countries, despite rail being important for Soviet union logistics. In top of that, Russian rail is severely lacking today.
Could it be a rail gauge issue where eastern rail standard caused development to be prohibitively more expensive?
I would guess wealth and population density have something to do with it. Though car ownership rates are also lower in those countries, so you'd assume there would be more demand for alternatives like rail.
Its not too different. Your perception is thrown off by that very dense tangle around Germany, but then Germany was a very early adopter of railways having passed proto-railway technology to Britain in the first place, then via the personal union of the British and Hanoverian thrones got modern railways in return from the mid-18th century.
It has more to do with population density.