High-speed rail is being considered as a potential platform for a nuclear strike. This issue arose after a recent study by Chinese researchers estimated that high-speed rail would be more suitable for use as nuclear launchers.
If the United States (US) and Russia had an "apocalypse plane", China would probably have a "doomsday train" to carry out a nuclear strike. This train goes up to 350km/hour. The shape of the train is slim, with 16 carriages each weighing about 60 tons.
"A modern intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can fit inside a carriage but when it explodes, its weight generates two to four times the maximum load capacity of the train," said Yin Zihong, professor of civil engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu. , Sichuan, quoted from the South China Morning Post.
Yin is the lead scientist of a national research project funded by the central government. The modified high-speed train can withstand the launch. But most of the stress generated will go down the rails and their foundations, potentially damaging infrastructure and rendering them unsafe and unusable.
Using data from previous test launches conducted by the Chinese military and computer modelling, Yin and his colleagues simulated the operation of a high-speed rail launch system.
Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University, show that under some circumstances, high-speed rail may perform better than heavy-duty industrial trains, which are generally considered better suited for the job.
According to the researchers' simulation results, most of the disruption caused by firing missiles will be limited to shallow areas of the rail infrastructure, where damage is easier to detect and repair.
A Beijing-based researcher who studies rail engineering said the conclusion was not entirely surprising. The extremely high operating speed required the railroad to have a much stronger foundation than ordinary trains, said the researcher, who asked not to be named.
But they warned that some of the very low frequency vibrations generated by the launchers could pose a risk to surface components, such as rails and concrete slabs.
Doomsday Train
Train-based ICBM launch systems would be more likely to survive the first wave of nuclear strikes than other ground-based systems, such as silos and trucks, according to military experts. And trains are thought to be able to carry as many missiles as nuclear submarines.
A locomotive carrying nuclear weapons, also known as a doomsday train, was first proposed by the American military during the Cold War. The former Soviet Union built such a system and used it for decades.
From the outside, the doomsday train looks almost identical to a regular train. Apart from carrying missiles, it also provides housing for military personnel and technicians.
Even if the train was identified by a passing spy satellite, the enemy would have a hard time tracking it down and destroying it, especially in a country with a large rail system running through mountains and tunnels.
In less than two decades, China has built the world's largest high-speed rail network. It plays an important role in China's military logistics support system as a fast transportation for personnel and cargo. However, its use in nuclear war has never been discussed openly.
China reportedly tested using a rail to launch the DF-41 missile in 2016. The missile was ejected into the air with compressed gas without starting its rocket engine.
The DF-41 missile is an 80-ton ICBM that carries multiple nuclear warheads with a range of up to 15,000 km. It is about 20 meters long and 2 meters wide. To note, the typical Chinese high-speed train carriage has a length of about 27 meters and a diameter of more than 3 meters.
So far, it is unclear whether or when the Chinese military will deploy the nuclear launch platform using the high-speed rail. This could be just a study, but it is possible that China will actually use it.