According to our information, tonight at 2:10 AM (Moscow time), a special service train* passed through Smolensk station (towards the Republic of Belarus). The train consist included approximately 15 passenger cars (mostly open-plan sleeping cars) with Russian Army personnel. The destination station in Belarus is currently unknown.
The use of a TEP70 diesel locomotive implies crossing the Russian Federation-Republic of Belarus border via one of two junction sections: either through Krasnoe – Osinovka to Orsha or through Rudnya – Zaolsha to Vitebsk. This differs from electric locomotive traction, where the route could only pass through the Krasnoe – Osinovka junction.
The distance to Orsha station is 111 km, and the travel time with the specified locomotive will be no more than one and a half hours. To Vitebsk station, it is 133 km, and the travel time will be approximately two and a half hours.
Based on the number of passenger cars in the train, the number of transported personnel can be conditionally estimated, using open-plan sleeping cars as an example, to be ≈ 800 people.
*special railway transportation – railway transportation of goods intended to meet particularly important state needs (editor's note – including military), as well as railway transportation of convicts and persons held in custody.
