Originally Posted by
NutLoose
I wonder if the boat is any relevance or is one of the decoys? One lane left standing so the Russians can evacuate Crimea?
Hard to see a scenario where the fire on the train on the track about could lead to the outer bridge deck collapsing.The train viaduct/track is still intact.
If some of the cars dropped onto the road decks below there would lots of visible evidence so the two events are separate.
The road way collapse looks like several I have seen where the bearings/connections at the pier have failed. (Often due to poor maintenance in older structures. The Mianus River bridge is a good example. Faulty shear calculations and or bearing fabrications have dropped a few bridges as well)
OTOH - If I was going to drop a bridge deck , I would get underneath and destroy the bearing plates and connections. Not hard to do if you have access, a boat and a ladder will do, and if you know what to do. Ukraine does not seem to lack for engineering talent.
Presuming this happened , not a big deal to get up the the railway viaduct and place a few shaped charges that would blow up and puncture the tank car.
What I find interesting is the lack of traffic on the bridge. You think it would be crammed with trucks.