Re: Blood and Iron

Bruno's return from the Austrian Alps was one of relative peace. His days spent at home were largely focused on his work at the Central Division of German High Command, as well as the management of several major businesses.

Whether it was textiles, construction, extraction and processing of raw materials, heavy industry, etc., Bruno had largely invested in a wide variety of industries that he was either partially or fully the owner of. His wealth was vast, but nowhere near what it would be in the future.

Even so, the man had other concerns on his mind at the moment. Frankly speaking, while the Reich's railways were robust and more than capable of supporting the war effort should it arrive at their borders, investments into reinforcing this infrastructure so that it was capable of withstanding the stress of war and expanding into Austro-Hungarian territory, especially the Balkans, were needed.

This was explicitly why he made the pinky promise with Princess Hedwig, as it guaranteed he would be able to return to the Hofburg and hopefully use that visit to convince the Austrian Kaiser towards his proposals-specifically, proposals for investing in the expansion and reinforcement of their railway.

But it would be a long time before Bruno could fulfill this promise to the Austrian Princess and, in doing so, get this opportunity. Rather, he wanted to enhance his own nation's railway capabilities.

Because of this, he immediately began drawing up plans to expand and reinforce German railways for two purposes. The introduction of armored trains would secure their logistical supply network, especially if they were fighting a defensive war, as Bruno planned.

Doing this meant the enemy would have a harder time damaging not only their railways but the rail cars that transported men and supplies to the frontlines. Second, Bruno wanted to establish railguns.

Bruno was not considering the enormous monstrosity known as the Gustav Gun, perhaps the most ludicrously large piece of artillery ever fielded in battle. No, the 280mm Krupp K5 was more than enough to fulfill the needs of the German Army.

It was smaller, put less stress on the railways, and of course was easier to transport, not requiring the construction of new railways that could support it, unlike the Gustav Gun. So, first and foremost was enhancing and reinforcing the current railway systems. It didn't exactly hurt to make them compatible with the high-speed trains of the future, right?

These would require substantial re-engineering considering that the current rail systems were about as obsolete and in as poor condition as the United States railways of the 21st century.

If he was going to overhaul the German Reich's railways, why not ensure they were modern enough to support future advancements in train technology?

High-speed rails, unlike earlier designs, were generally constructed of thermite-welded steel rails placed over concrete or steel ties. This was in stark contrast to how railways were currently constructed, which were made on wooden ties with wrought iron rails that had been riveted together.