Railforce One - Ukrzaliznytsia Joe

From Hilton Suites Boca Raton--

The Times has coverage of Joe doing in likely the most dangerous corner of the world what the Sectet Service will not let him do back here:

Fair Use:

WASHINGTON — As the train rumbled across the Ukrainian countryside through a long night, the view outside the window left little to see, just the occasional streetlight or shadows of buildings in the distance. But neither could those watching the train go by see who was inside, nor would they likely have guessed had they stopped to wonder.

Huddled aboard the anonymous train were President Biden and a skeleton team of advisers accompanied by armed and edgy Secret Service agents, embarking on a secret mission to visit Kyiv. As far as the world was concerned, Mr. Biden was back in Washington, home for the evening after a date night at an Italian restaurant.

In fact, he was on a journey unlike any other taken by a modern American president

Prettiest amazing stuff. Love to know the route and consist.

No link, Mr Norman?

Some Twitter threads with lots of pictures of the train. President Biden took the same train both ways.
The White House on Twitter: "One year ..." / Twitter
Alexander Kamyshin on Twitter: "So, here is ..." / Twitter

There are some pictures from inside that train, like what seems like a conference-room car, a dining car, and a compartment car.

David Benton wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 2:12 pm No link, Mr Norman?

There's a link to The Times material.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ukra ... index.html

“Rail Force One”.

I'm just going to say this.

Biden is DAMN lucky (with a capital DAAAAAAMMMN!) that Russia did not attack Kyiv and kill him (or worse). THAT would make the USA once again blood-thirsty nuts and we'll be in World War III.

The only thing vaguely train related is that he took an overnight train into Kyiv and then back out to Poland. That's it.

As much as I hate Putin right now, no politician should be put themselves at risk like that. Maxim 18: If the officers are leading from in front, watch out for an attack from the rear.

I'm going to see if there's a function to hide this thread from my view...

I thought I saw that every president/prime minister who has visited Kiev since the war has done so by train--you can't fly in, that's way to dangerous, and driving too visible.

I don't think there was in luck in the fact that Kiev was not attacked while he was there; all that needed to be telegraphed ahead of time is that a NATO president or prime minister was making that journey for Russia to halt any attack on where they think that person might be because killing any NATO president or prime minister would be a strong excuse for European military intervention which Russia cannot afford to have happen.

I've read that the US informed the orcs a few hours ahead of his trip, and they were not happy. Train trip was 10 hours each way, giving him about 4 hours in Kviv. Apparently the coach was refurbished specially. He was traveling with only two reporters. Trains in Ukraine have been slowed due to the war as bombing or sabotage damage can happen and they want to give the engineer time to react or if there were a derailment at medium speed it wouldn't be as bad as at high speed. They also have diesel rescue locomotives placed around the system for when the Russians bomb the electrical substations.

At the start of the war, the guy in charge of the railroad had only been there for a few months. Apparently he and the railroad is doing a good job, with an on-time rate that could be envied by a certain US railroad??? Sounds like they were heavily overstaffed which has been a boon when stuff needed to be fixed or re-routed or evacuation trains were needed. They used Soviet era railroad communication system that didn't depend on the cell network or landlines being up, and moved the railroad managers around by train so they weren't killed at the beginning of the war.

I'm surprised how little coverage there has been on railroad.net of the Ukranian railroad. I assume there is only one railroad in Ukraine?

Ukrzaliznytsia is the primarily state-owned railroad monopoly in Ukrain. They recently began the process of "decolonization" of the railroad by renaming districts, remarking milepost measuring from Kiev instead of Moscow and using English instead of Russian on tickets. https://www.railwaygazette.com/policy/u ... 12.article

RandallW wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 5:45 pmI don't think there was in luck in the fact that Kiev was not attacked while he was there; all that needed to be telegraphed ahead of time is that a NATO president or prime minister was making that journey for Russia to halt any attack on where they think that person might be because killing any NATO president or prime minister would be a strong excuse for European military intervention which Russia cannot afford to have happen.

Exactly. Russia was alerted in advance and while tensions are high the assassination of a world leader (any country) would not be a good move. If I were in charge of security for the trip I would be more worried about a third party attack - the same global threats that the Secret Service and others worry about if a similar trip was made in the US. There is a reason why when Marine One visits the White House there are identical decoy helicopters.

I am glad he made the trip, it seems Kiev is the new "place to go" for world leaders and I would not want the US to be the only Ukraine friendly nation to be left out. It isn't the first presidential trip into hostile territory. Normally such trips are done to support our troops. Sometimes the strongest message can be sent by just showing up.