Russian railway engineers intentionally designed their national train tracks to be significantly wider than the standard gauge used by almost every other country in Western Europe.

A closer look

Russian railway engineers intentionally designed their national train tracks to be significantly wider than the standard gauge used by almost every other country in Western Europe. This seemingly tedious infrastructural decision was historically motivated by intense military paranoia, specifically to ensure that hostile invading armies could not simply roll their own fully loaded supply trains across the border and straight into Moscow. Because the tracks do not match up, foreign trains hit the Russian frontier and are physically forced to halt, requiring workers to painstakingly unload cargo or swap out entire wheel bogeys under the train cars. It is a remarkably low-tech but highly effective form of national defense that guarantees any ambitious European dictator trying to conquer the frozen tundra will be defeated not just by the harsh winter, but by the sheer bureaucratic nightmare of incompatible public transit!