Quote:
Originally Posted by Panther Al
My only concern about depending on rail to allow for logistic flexibility is that rail is amazingly vulnerable to all sorts of issues.
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Very true and something I had in the back of my mind while I was writing that post. The good news is that rail lines (at least here in Australia) tend to be repaired very quickly. Even a major derailment and destruction of a kilometre or so of line tends to be little more than a 24 hour hiccup.
Obviously patrols of the lines would be required which may tie up manpower, but overall, even if the worst should happen and a train is on top of the explosive device, you're still not likely to loose the entire load of cargo as you would with a ship at sea being sunk.
Fortunately here in Australia, most destinations are not on the rail lines and so trucks are required. And some of our trucks are HUGE!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_train
In fact, most places you may see combat occuring will be hundreds or kilometres from the nearest rail line.