Large roller bearings are actually pretty difficult to produce cheaply and reliably at large scales. I don’t really see this as being unbelievable considering 75% of all bearings used in rail are produced by 10 companies in Japan, the US, Germany, and Sweden.
Creating a production line completely in house and at a scale that would be sufficient to supply one of the largest rail networks in the world be a Herculean task for just about any country.
First of all, ball bearings aren’t like artillery shells that are single use items either. It’s not like you need a constant stream of them. Second, I don’t think cheaply really plays a factor in this scenario.
Meanwhile, I’m not sure what you premise the idea that Russia doesn’t already have ball bearing manufacturing domestically. USSR certainly did, and Russia inherited most of the industrial infrastructure. And of course, there’s also China with plenty of ball bearing manufacturing being done domestically https://www.fitrunbearing.com/blog/top-10-bearing-manufacturers-in-china/
First of all, ball bearings aren’t like artillery shells that are single use items either. It’s not like you need a constant stream of them.
Lol, bearings are one of the largest consumables in railway maintenance. You quite literally do need to have a constant supply, trains go through bearings faster than any other industrial implementation.
Second, I don’t think cheaply really plays a factor in this scenario.
Resources don’t matter in a country at war?
Meanwhile, I’m not sure what you premise the idea that Russia doesn’t already have ball bearing manufacturing domestically.
USSR certainly did, and Russia inherited most of the industrial infrastructure.
Infrastructure doesn’t just preserve itself, industrial equipment gets sold off or parted out all the time. That’s the equivalent of saying America uses to produce all of its own steel, so they should still be able to do so now a days.
Plus, there’s a huge difference in modern bearing production compared to when the USSR was a industrial powerhouse. Modern bearings last a lot longer, and require less maintenance. That’s because they are made of M50 alloy steel or Fe-1C-1.5Cr alloy steel, which are also not domestically produced in Russia.
Yes, China does produce around 20% of the ball bearings used in trains today. However, those are for their own domestic market and they don’t really export them due to the ever expanding rail network they are creating.
Lol, bearings are one of the largest consumables in railway maintenance. You quite literally do need to have a constant supply, trains go through bearings faster than any other industrial implementation.
Again, feel free to show that Russia lacks the necessary production capacity to make them.
Resources don’t matter in a country at war?
Ah yes, Russia, a country that famously lacks resources.
Infrastructure doesn’t just preserve itself, industrial equipment gets sold off or parted out all the time. That’s the equivalent of saying America uses to produce all of its own steel, so they should still be able to do so now a days.
Nobody made the argument that infrastructure preserves itself. On what basis are you assuming that Russia isn’t preserving their industrial infrastructure? Also, the big difference in Russia from US is that much of the industry is state owned. That’s why Russia is currently able to outproduce the entire west combined in terms of things like artillery shells.
Russia never fully embraced liberal policies and the state is in the commanding heights of the economy. A 2023 World Bank study gives a pretty good overview of this. In particular, it distinguishes between businesses of the state (BOS), that are at least 10% government owned by some government, and state owned enterprises (SOE), which are majority owned or more, and controlled, by the government.
Finally, here’s an article talking deprivatization of Russian economy.
Yes, China does produce around 20% of the ball bearings used in trains today. However, those are for their own domestic market and they don’t really export them due to the ever expanding rail network they are creating.
Once again, I ask you to show evidence that China has no surplus capacity.
Ah yes very credible article “citing an unnamed source”, I’m completely convinced. Especially, given how accurate similar claims in the western media have been in the past.
Large roller bearings are actually pretty difficult to produce cheaply and reliably at large scales. I don’t really see this as being unbelievable considering 75% of all bearings used in rail are produced by 10 companies in Japan, the US, Germany, and Sweden.
Creating a production line completely in house and at a scale that would be sufficient to supply one of the largest rail networks in the world be a Herculean task for just about any country.
First of all, ball bearings aren’t like artillery shells that are single use items either. It’s not like you need a constant stream of them. Second, I don’t think cheaply really plays a factor in this scenario.
Meanwhile, I’m not sure what you premise the idea that Russia doesn’t already have ball bearing manufacturing domestically. USSR certainly did, and Russia inherited most of the industrial infrastructure. And of course, there’s also China with plenty of ball bearing manufacturing being done domestically https://www.fitrunbearing.com/blog/top-10-bearing-manufacturers-in-china/
Lol, bearings are one of the largest consumables in railway maintenance. You quite literally do need to have a constant supply, trains go through bearings faster than any other industrial implementation.
Resources don’t matter in a country at war?
Infrastructure doesn’t just preserve itself, industrial equipment gets sold off or parted out all the time. That’s the equivalent of saying America uses to produce all of its own steel, so they should still be able to do so now a days.
Plus, there’s a huge difference in modern bearing production compared to when the USSR was a industrial powerhouse. Modern bearings last a lot longer, and require less maintenance. That’s because they are made of M50 alloy steel or Fe-1C-1.5Cr alloy steel, which are also not domestically produced in Russia.
Yes, China does produce around 20% of the ball bearings used in trains today. However, those are for their own domestic market and they don’t really export them due to the ever expanding rail network they are creating.
Again, feel free to show that Russia lacks the necessary production capacity to make them.
Ah yes, Russia, a country that famously lacks resources.
Nobody made the argument that infrastructure preserves itself. On what basis are you assuming that Russia isn’t preserving their industrial infrastructure? Also, the big difference in Russia from US is that much of the industry is state owned. That’s why Russia is currently able to outproduce the entire west combined in terms of things like artillery shells.
Russia never fully embraced liberal policies and the state is in the commanding heights of the economy. A 2023 World Bank study gives a pretty good overview of this. In particular, it distinguishes between businesses of the state (BOS), that are at least 10% government owned by some government, and state owned enterprises (SOE), which are majority owned or more, and controlled, by the government.
Top line result is shown in the following chart:
And here’s another chart showing SOE in Russia compared with China https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/state-owned-enterprises-global-economy-reason-concern
Russia’s high levels of SOEs is not far behind China by many measures.
Central bank plays a big role in Russia as well, and has large influence over the funding of the private enterprise. FT even moaned about state directed economy standing up to sanctions back in 2022.
Finally, here’s an article talking deprivatization of Russian economy.
Once again, I ask you to show evidence that China has no surplus capacity.
You want somebody to prove that Russia doesn’t have the capacity to produce their own ball bearings? May I direct you to the article?
Ah yes very credible article “citing an unnamed source”, I’m completely convinced. Especially, given how accurate similar claims in the western media have been in the past.