Critical rail lines across Europe closing for “months” following biblical flooding

[rangerrebew]

Critical rail lines across Europe closing for “months” following biblical flooding

07/22/2021 / By Ethan Huff

Large swaths of Western Europe have been left decimated following torrential rains that flooded towns and cities across Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands over the past several days.

Sizeable stretches of rail lines are now completely unusable or destroyed, thanks to the flooding, which experts say could take months or even years to fully remediate.

What this means is that yet another critical transportation network is out of commission indefinitely, adding even more strain to an already hobbling global supply chain.

https://www.climate.news/2021-07-22-rail-lines-europe-closing-months-biblical-flooding.html

[Fishrrman]

Railroads historically have fairly competent personnel who can get rebuilt and running again after natural disasters.

The floods of 1955 all-but wiped out the New Haven Railroad in western Connecticut, but they got going again in fairly good order. The cost of the repairs, however, accelerated the line's bankruptcy which came in 1961.

The Germans rebuilt their railroads from the damages sustained in World War II.
I'm sure they can handle those from a single flood.

[thackney]

German railway: Floods caused $1.5 billion damage to network
https://apnews.com/article/europe-floods-0637d4aaaa9469595b9df8c98b488a2d

Germany’s national railway operator estimated on Friday that last week’s flooding caused damage worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to its network, offering another glimpse of the extent of the devastation.

Authorities are still working to determine the overall cost of the floods that did their worst damage in western Germany and eastern Belgium. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said this week that the damage is “immense” and will take a long time to repair.

At least 180 people died in Germany in the flooding and a further 31 deaths were reported in Belgium, taking the overall death toll to 211....