While there is no single, perfectly exact public figure for Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia / UZ) that takes into account the daily wear and tear of the war, official data and industry reports provide a very clear picture of their traction fleet. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Here is the operational breakdown:
* Total Inventory: UZ has an inventory of around 1,500 to 1,550 mainline locomotives (both diesel and electric). [3, 6]
* Operational Fleet: Of that inventory, roughly 1,200 locomotives are listed as active and in service. The remaining units are kept in reserve to handle spikes in transport demand or are undergoing maintenance. [3, 7]
* A "War-Battered" Fleet: The vast majority of these locomotives are Soviet-era and average 46 years in age. Because of this aging equipment and the impacts of ongoing attacks on railway infrastructure, a significant portion of the fleet (up to 40%) is often listed as unrestorable or awaiting write-off. [2, 8, 9, 10, 11]
Modernization and Fleet Renewal
Because the current fleet suffers from extreme wear and tear, UZ has heavily invested in upgrading and replacing its operational locomotives: [4, 8, 12, 13, 14]
* Alstom Locomotives: Ukrainian Railways signed a strategic contract with France's Alstom to supply 55 new, modern Traxx Hauler electric freight locomotives. Financed by international partners like the World Bank and the EBRD, these European-built dual-voltage locomotives are designed to replace older, aging models and increase efficiency. Deliveries of these units are scheduled to run through 2029.
* Wabtec Locomotives: UZ secured loan agreements with the U.S. Export-Import Bank to purchase 40 diesel locomotives from Wabtec.
* General Electric (GE): UZ also operates a fleet of 30 modern GE TE33AC Trident diesel locomotives, which were purchased in 2018. [1, 12, 15, 16, 17]
Why doesn’t Iran force a US acceptance deadline with the BaM and the comms cables? Cutting off India from the rest of the virtual world would be an undeserved mercy.
So riddle me this: how is the "$667 billion" calculated? Let's assume it's some lowball number like $20 an ounce. 667 billion / 20 = 33,350,000,000, that's 33.350 billion ounces, which I think is way high, but let's play the game. At $4,000 an ounce, 33.35 billion ounces is $133 trillion dollars. Sounds like a lot, but I've heard the "unofficial" US debt numbers are something well north of $100 trillion, more like $150 trillion. Then there's the issue of $20 an ounce vs, say, $40 an ounce, which is not insignificant (cuts the number of ounces in half). And then you have the question of selling that hoard, can't do it all at once or the value of gold would plummet. What is more likely is that the USG would use this as "collateral" to expand the debt even further...gasoline on the fire? Even if you could "wipe out the debt" with that number, all that does is set you back to zero, and "moar borrowing." Ugh.
As they said in the X-Files, "I want to believe." But it's not easy to believe.
""Americans hear about a $37 trillion national debt, which is already astronomical, but the real number, as calculated as every corporation must report it, reaches $151 trillion.""
Ah, the good old days, when we still had 37T debt 🤣
Now to the calculation: You should start from the current hoard I think? Because 33B ounces is like 5x all the gold EVER mined. So you should start from 8133 tonnes. Roughly 260Moz.
But let's assume that that price is right, then the price should be something like $2500... Erhm. Did he even look at the markets before he said that? They're practically double already.
Or .. And now I put on my tinfoil hat... It IS worth 667B... That means at current prizes around 140Moz. Thus 4370 tonnes.
Which would mean around half of reserves are gone already 😏
I think Luke Gromen suggested that maybe they could pick a higher number to revalue e.g. $20K per Oz. I don't have the podcast handy otherwise I'd post it. Still, if it did occur, I don't know what the implications would be.
Re: Ukraine Railways locomotive fleet.
While there is no single, perfectly exact public figure for Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia / UZ) that takes into account the daily wear and tear of the war, official data and industry reports provide a very clear picture of their traction fleet. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Here is the operational breakdown:
* Total Inventory: UZ has an inventory of around 1,500 to 1,550 mainline locomotives (both diesel and electric). [3, 6]
* Operational Fleet: Of that inventory, roughly 1,200 locomotives are listed as active and in service. The remaining units are kept in reserve to handle spikes in transport demand or are undergoing maintenance. [3, 7]
* A "War-Battered" Fleet: The vast majority of these locomotives are Soviet-era and average 46 years in age. Because of this aging equipment and the impacts of ongoing attacks on railway infrastructure, a significant portion of the fleet (up to 40%) is often listed as unrestorable or awaiting write-off. [2, 8, 9, 10, 11]
Modernization and Fleet Renewal
Because the current fleet suffers from extreme wear and tear, UZ has heavily invested in upgrading and replacing its operational locomotives: [4, 8, 12, 13, 14]
* Alstom Locomotives: Ukrainian Railways signed a strategic contract with France's Alstom to supply 55 new, modern Traxx Hauler electric freight locomotives. Financed by international partners like the World Bank and the EBRD, these European-built dual-voltage locomotives are designed to replace older, aging models and increase efficiency. Deliveries of these units are scheduled to run through 2029.
* Wabtec Locomotives: UZ secured loan agreements with the U.S. Export-Import Bank to purchase 40 diesel locomotives from Wabtec.
* General Electric (GE): UZ also operates a fleet of 30 modern GE TE33AC Trident diesel locomotives, which were purchased in 2018. [1, 12, 15, 16, 17]
[1] [https://www.facebook.com](https://www.facebook.com/euromaidanpress.en/posts/ukraines-railway-fleet-averages-46-years-in-age-and-takes-regular-russian-strike/1415361590606527/)
[2] [https://en.cfts.org.ua](https://en.cfts.org.ua/news/ukrzaliznytsia_discloses_number_of_locomotives_in_its_fleet)
[3] [https://www.railway.supply](https://www.railway.supply/ukrzaliznytsia-has-1-532-locomotives-about-300-of-them-are-in-reserve/)
[4] [https://www.uz.gov.ua](https://www.uz.gov.ua/en/press_center/up_to_date_topic/682947/)
[5] [https://www.ft.com](https://www.ft.com/content/6c582547-5484-469e-85c1-a2ff0ed7115f?syn-25a6b1a6=1)
[6] [https://www.ebrd.com](https://www.ebrd.com/home/work-with-us/projects/psd/55499.html)
[7] [https://tst.duit.in.ua](https://tst.duit.in.ua/index.php/tst/article/download/363/330)
[8] [https://www.alstom.com](https://www.alstom.com/press-releases-news/2025/11/alstom-will-deliver-55-electric-locomotives-ukrainian-railways)
[9] [https://www.nic.funet.fi](https://www.nic.funet.fi/index/railways/Ukraine/index.html)
[10] [https://www.facebook.com](https://www.facebook.com/euromaidanpress.en/posts/ukraines-railway-fleet-averages-46-years-in-age-and-takes-regular-russian-strike/1415361590606527/)
[11] [https://www.progressiverailroading.com](https://www.progressiverailroading.com/railPrime/details/War-doesnt-stop-Ukrainian-Railways---73992)
[12] [https://www.railwaypro.com](https://www.railwaypro.com/wp/ukrzaliznytsia-secures-funding-for-new-electric-locomotives/)
[13] [https://www.uz.gov.ua](https://www.uz.gov.ua/en/press_center/up_to_date_topic/682947/)
[14] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Railways)
[15] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Railways)
[16] [https://www.globenewswire.com](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/11/17/3189028/0/en/alstom-s-a-alstom-will-deliver-55-electric-locomotives-to-ukrainian-railways.html)
[17] [https://www.therailagenda.com](https://www.therailagenda.com/p/ukraine-railways-gets-55-urgently)
Boston blast was supposedly a meteor exploding https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/us/boston-area-boom.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
https://www.msn.com/en-in/weather/general/boston-meteor-explosion-update-experts-reveal-what-happened-in-mass-new-bolide-news/ar-AA24rTJF
Why doesn’t Iran force a US acceptance deadline with the BaM and the comms cables? Cutting off India from the rest of the virtual world would be an undeserved mercy.
right, would win friends for Iran for sure.
I would like to hear what Brett Weinstein thinks about the mosquito release. Reminds me of what happened to China when they killed all the sparrows
So riddle me this: how is the "$667 billion" calculated? Let's assume it's some lowball number like $20 an ounce. 667 billion / 20 = 33,350,000,000, that's 33.350 billion ounces, which I think is way high, but let's play the game. At $4,000 an ounce, 33.35 billion ounces is $133 trillion dollars. Sounds like a lot, but I've heard the "unofficial" US debt numbers are something well north of $100 trillion, more like $150 trillion. Then there's the issue of $20 an ounce vs, say, $40 an ounce, which is not insignificant (cuts the number of ounces in half). And then you have the question of selling that hoard, can't do it all at once or the value of gold would plummet. What is more likely is that the USG would use this as "collateral" to expand the debt even further...gasoline on the fire? Even if you could "wipe out the debt" with that number, all that does is set you back to zero, and "moar borrowing." Ugh.
As they said in the X-Files, "I want to believe." But it's not easy to believe.
You heard it here: https://no01.substack.com/p/the-good-the-bad-and-the-insolvent
""Americans hear about a $37 trillion national debt, which is already astronomical, but the real number, as calculated as every corporation must report it, reaches $151 trillion.""
Ah, the good old days, when we still had 37T debt 🤣
Now to the calculation: You should start from the current hoard I think? Because 33B ounces is like 5x all the gold EVER mined. So you should start from 8133 tonnes. Roughly 260Moz.
But let's assume that that price is right, then the price should be something like $2500... Erhm. Did he even look at the markets before he said that? They're practically double already.
Or .. And now I put on my tinfoil hat... It IS worth 667B... That means at current prizes around 140Moz. Thus 4370 tonnes.
Which would mean around half of reserves are gone already 😏
I think Luke Gromen suggested that maybe they could pick a higher number to revalue e.g. $20K per Oz. I don't have the podcast handy otherwise I'd post it. Still, if it did occur, I don't know what the implications would be.
Sorry correction 'Australian consumer running on fumes'
Tick Tock.