Ukraine's Rail War
Events continue to show that the railway is Ukraine's key defence against Russia's cynical aggression. The resulting drift towards military targeting of rail will impact all of us for years to come.
The ‘rail war’
The Ukraine railway network has a track length of over 23,000 km, making it the 13th largest in the world. Prior to Putin’s ruthless and cynical invasion the Ukraine railway was the world's sixth largest rail passenger transporter and its seventh largest freight transporter. Given this it is perhaps not a surprise that the railway has been instrumental in Ukraine’s spirited defence. Neither is it a surprise that it has provided a tempting and important target for Russian munitions.
The importance of rail has been shown in areas including humanitarian aid and evacuation; troop movements and the provision of heavy weapons from the West. The Russian fleet’s blockade of the black sea port of Odessa has also left the railway as the principal means of transporting Ukraine’s grain harvest and trying to prevent mass starvation occurring as a consequence of Putin’s war.
When European leaders Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi travelled to Ukraine to discuss arms shipments and other political support it was an important political message that they travelled into Kiev on the night train.
The Belarusian front
Ukraine has targeted Russian rail use too. It had help in this from its dissident railway family across its north-western border. At the outset of the invasion Belarusians successfully disrupted the transit of Russian equipment and troops through their country and this was instrumental in the Russian defeat at Kiev. I previously wrote about the Cyber Partisans who disrupted signalling and ticketing systems, but the instances of physical sabotage by the Belarusian railway workers were even more significant. Sabotage at this scale has not been seen on the Belarusian railway since 1943 when the ‘rail war’ was central to Belursusia’s resistance to Nazi occupation.
The success of these tactics is proven by the viciousness of the response taken by the government of Putin’s Belarusian client state. Punishments ranged from long prison sentences to the death penalty. The authorities accuse the rail partisans of being in the pay of Western governments and that they seek to perpetrate disasters and cause mass human casualties. But only the partisans have suffered physically so far. In April, security police captured three alleged saboteurs near the town of Bobruisk and shot them in the knees.
The militarisation of rail
Ukrainian and Russian artillery have both intensified their targeting of critical national infrastructure as the war has ground on. As I write these words Ukraine has been seeking to destroy a key bridge and reports are coming in of shelling of railway infrastructure in the Kirovograd region.
At this pivotal point in the war it is important that the resolve of the international coalition against Putin doesn’t wane. Arguably, for those of us in the railway family that responsibility bites a bit deeper. Although it is in some regards a token contribution, I was heartened to see that the UK government had recently pledged £10 million to the rebuilding of the Ukrainian railway at a time when it has its own rail funding crisis.
An unfortunate side effect of the situation that has arisen though, is the drift that it creates towards the legitimisation of the railway as a military target. One key example of this is how Ukraine's rail chief has become a high profile target for assassination by the Russian army. We will feel the implications of this drift for years to come, and it will impact the way we need to think about security in all its forms: in particular physical security, cyber security and the assurance of our supply chains.
The next issue - and a public lecture
My publishing schedule has gone a little awry of late for various reasons. However, I will endeavour to return to my two weekly schedule from September.
A key date to put into your diaries is September 27th, when I will be giving a public lecture at the University of Huddersfield. The lecture is titled ‘Railway Safety in a Period of Change’ and I will discuss the safety culture, strategy and policy challenges and opportunities created by the transition to ‘Great British Railways’ that is underway. I am still writing the accompanying paper for the lecture but it is shaping up to cover areas such as:
Changing expectations, accountabilities, technology and culture in the GB Rail industry and the new challenges and opportunities they create for the reform agenda.
What previous railway set ups, and the rail accidents of the time, have taught us about how to deliver world class health and safety.
The tensions that will inevitably become manifest as the railway goes through transformation, and what can be learnt from other sectors.
There will be plenty of space for those of you in and around the railway’s northern heartlands to attend in person and I really hope you can, as we continue to ease back into human interaction post-COVID.
For those who can’t be there it will be available live online via the joint hosts, the Safety and Reliability Society. The start time is not yet finalised but the eventbrite page is open for those who would like to register their interest.
I’m very keen to build the network for this newsletter. If you know anyone who is interested in the safety of modern transport technology, and who likes a thought provoking read every couple of weeks, please do share a link with them.
Thanks for reading
All views are my own. I have no fixed affiliations and if I consider myself to be ‘radical’ in any way, it is only in my belief that I must be open to changing my mind. The photo used on social media is "Ukraine Railways - suburban train" by Dariusz Sieczkowski and is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
Please do feel free to drop me an e-mail on george.bearfield@ntlworld.com: My particular area of professional and research interest is practical risk management and assurance of new technology. I’m always keen to engage on interesting projects in this area. Have a great Summer and see you again in September!