European Railroad Discussion > The Kerch Bridge is down

A Truck bomb was detonated on the Kerch Strait Road bridge dropping it. A fuel train was passing on the adjacent railway bridge and several tank cars were set on fire. The fire likely weaken the rail bridge as the flames are seen billowing from a distance. The driver was videoing as the explosion happened. Check out the video on the  CNN-NEWS18 channel on the other video site.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/22 00:47 by SOO6617.

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Where is the Kerch Bridge?  Gerry

Much better video from The Guardian on the other video site...search Crimea Bridge
Bob

Crude oil can be a bomb in and of itself.

Posted from Android

GPutz Wrote:
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> Where is the Kerch Bridge?  Gerry

This bridge linked Crimea with Russia.

I have read several sources now which quote experts as stating that this was an attack from underneath the bridge deck -- not a detonation of an explosive device on the roadway surface, or by a missile or aircraft-launched bomb.. Were that the case, more damage would probably be apparent on the roadway surface, both on the adjacent span sections, and on the section dropped into the water.

From BBC News: " The crossing is more than 100 miles from Ukrainian-held territory. One explosives expert told the BBC the fire was probably not caused by a missile. "The lack of obvious blast / fragmentation damage on the road surface suggests that an air-delivered weapon was not used," he said. He said it was possible that "a well-planned attack from below may have been the cause"."I suspect explosives on the road bridge and train deck were initiated near simultaneously using coded radio command," he added."
Article with photos and map of the bridge's location: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63183404

There also was what is being called an act of "malicious and targeted sabotage" in the cutting of signal system cables on the DB network in northern Germany. The cause or those responsible is unclear at this time, and could be a wide range of actors, from those simply stealing cable wire for sale as scrap, to deliberate saboteurs. Other than to cite the action as "targeted and deliberate", German authorities are not yet apparently assigning blame, nor suggesting any connection to other events.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/rail-northern-germany-standstill-due-technical-issue-2022-10-08/

All that said, along with the recent apparent undersea sabotage of the NordStream gas pipeline beneath the waters of the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark, the bridge damage and the German rail system action mark three incidents in recent days in which there have been serious destructive actions taken to transportation infrastructure. All are outside the theater of direct military activity in Ukraine. And no one has, to the best of my knowledge, suggested that all three have some connection to the Ukraine war. But if the authorities find that they do have some relationship to the war, the three incidents could mark a serious and potentially dangerous escalation of activity outside the current wartime theater, and into the territory of other western European nations.

MC
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/22 08:13 by ironmtn.

Bridge security video clearly shows a suicide truck bomber. Russian authorities already have the truck registration data.

I think the intention was to explode the truck on the main span while a fuel train was transiting the rail bridge main span. Perhaps the grade killed off the truck's speed quicker than the driver anticipated. The main spans would take years to replace. If bridge materials are stockpiled, I expect repairs to happen fairly quickly.

Here is the bridge security cam video:

https://htrs-special.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/CrimeaBridgeExplosionVideo.mp4

The westbound(Crimea bound) lanes of the highway bridge are the collapsed section with
all traffic now moving on the normally eastbound lanes with a ferry service for heavy trucks.
Rail service has reportedly resumed.  The Russians would appear to have a motive to report
to the world that things are returning to normal.

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The Kerch Strait Bridges were completed in 2018 and 2020.  They are about 8 miles long, the longest bridges in Europe.  

They created a rail and highway connection from mainland Russia to the Crimea.  Necessary to enable commerce and tourism, and military operations in Crimea.  From the Russian annexation in 2014 to the completion of the road bridge in 2018 the Crimea had lacked easy supplies from Russia, which would not have improved morale for residents of the occupied peninsula.  The timing of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine was probably tied to 1) getting the Kerch Strait bridges complete, and 2) concluding the 2022 winter Olympics.  

It looks like the bomb came close to destroying the rail bridge -- if the fire would have developed enough to expand the leaks in the burning tank cars the heat could have destroyed the structural integrity of the span.  Causing significant problems to supplying military equipment to Crimea.  

As it was, it looks like the 4 lane motorway will be only 2 lanes for the foreseeable future, as the bomb destroyed one of the motorway bridges, but not the other.  But since the news reports say passenger train movements have already resumed, the damage to the railroad bridge is not significant.  

FWIW.  
Ted in OR, hoping for peace

https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=44.78573392716592&lon=37.408447265625&zoom=7
https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=45.27295361736122&lon=36.6064453125&zoom=11

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.2077977,36.754817,8.54z
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.256445,36.5156753,59282m/data=!3m1!1e3

https://opentopomap.org/#map=8/45.1820/-683.2205
https://opentopomap.org/#map=12/45.2669/-683.4528



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/22 10:02 by gobbl3gook.

Thanks for the additional reports.

I bet the Russians are now busy conscripting bomb sniffing dogs for Kerch Bridge duties.

ts1457 Wrote:
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> Bridge security video clearly shows a suicide
> truck bomber. Russian authorities already have the
> truck registration data.

I'm not so sure of that. Watching the video from the link in the post from "ts1457" above several times:

ts1457 Wrote:
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> Here is the bridge security cam video:
>
> https://htrs-special.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/CrimeaBridgeExplosionVideo.mp4

It appears that the explosion occurred in advance of the steeply inclined section leading up to the high channel span. Still photos also show that -- the gap opened by the explosion is on the flat girder-span approach to the high channel span, and at a very mild angle as the ascent is just beginning.

The box truck in the distance and the car to its left on the other hand had already reached the more steeply inclined section, and were starting to ascend it before the explosion occurred. And the next two following vehicles were still some distance from reaching the explosion location. The oncoming vehicles in the left lanes appear to have barely made it through the explosion, although the subsequent fire may have reached them. Yes, the video is a telephoto view, and there is image compression. But the angle of the box truck was changing rather sharply as it reached the start of the upward, inclined section. It was no longer on a fairly flat trajectory and a relatively flat or slightly ascending girder-span as the explosion occurred.

The Russian authorities may indeed have the registration data of that box truck, probably from security cameras at the entry to the bridge and perhaps also from mid-span positions. But that doesn't mean that it was the vehicle which caused the explosion. If it was not, then how terrible for the occupants, and those of other nearby vehicles. I will be much more trusting in information and analysis developed by non-Russian European and American intelligence services than I will be in statements made by the Russian government.

In any case, a serious and potentially provocative incident.

MC



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/22 10:28 by ironmtn.

Comparison of the Kerch Bridge to other long spans/tunnels: 

All are at the same scale

Kerch Bridge
https://opentopomap.org/#map=10/45.2582/-683.4454

Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel
https://opentopomap.org/#map=10/36.9949/-796.0151

Channel Tunnel -- England to France
https://opentopomap.org/#map=10/50.9576/-718.3706

New railroad tunnel from Germany to Denmark (under construction) 
https://opentopomap.org/#map=10/54.5673/-708.8029

Bridge/tunnel system from Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmo, Sweden
https://opentopomap.org/#map=10/55.5519/-707.1398

Various bridges and causeways around New Orleans 
https://opentopomap.org/#map=10/29.9930/-809.9801

On another note, most major bridge systems that cross shipping lanes and significant naval travel routes are built as tunnels, rather than bridges, to preserve shipping lanes if the bridge is bombed.  The Kersh Bridge was build as a *bridge*, for a similar reason.  The intention was to *create* a constriction in the shipping lanes to block Ukrainian maritime traffic... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerch_Strait_incident
https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/commentary/russias-strategic-miscalculation-in-blockading-the-sea-of-azov/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/27/kerch-strait-confrontation-what-happened-ukrainian-russia-crimea

I agree with MC. Trucks not in position for the blast. Also you can see the flames coming up from the underside of the bridge on the right side
RB

up833 Wrote:
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> I agree with MC. Trucks not in position for the
> blast. Also you can see the flames coming up from
> the underside of the bridge on the right side
> RB

The worst damaged span appears to have been blown downward instead of upward.

ts1457 Wrote:
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> up833 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I agree with MC. Trucks not in position for the
> > blast. Also you can see the flames coming up
> from
> > the underside of the bridge on the right side
> > RB
>
> The worst damaged span appears to have been blown
> downward instead of upward.

Or lifted off its supports by an explosion underneath, and then it buckled in the center and collapsed into the water.

MC

ironmtn Wrote:
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> Or lifted off its supports by an explosion
> underneath, and then it buckled in the center and
> collapsed into the water.

We'll see.

Rough overlay of the occupied terriroty of Ukraine with the rail map from OpenRailwayMap.  

You can see that if there Kerch Bridge is damaged, and if the single line from the Donbass region to southern Ukraine is under attach, there will be no rail connection to the occupied regions of Southern Ukraine.  

Ted in OR

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Good to see a map in the comments.
I have been promoting taking out a span of the Crimea bridge since the war started. On various social sites.
When you look at it it's a tough nut. Access to the bridge area is limited. (try looking for near approach photos)
Also as you can see it is two bridges, one rail, one road, and they are not close. So trying to get both in one shot
is near impossible. And the whole thing is very substantial in construction. No weak or obvious critical points.
I hope there is a story that follows as to what was actually done. The rumor mill is amazing. BTW the rail portion
really recently opened.  I think* some of the approaches were being finished when the actual war started.
(don't hold me to that) Slava.