On June 18, 1941, the U.S. Army organized the 711th Railway Operating Battalion. Its first mission? To renovate the four-and-a-half-mile railroad that served Fort Belvoir, Virginia, including thousands of ties, several bridges and 20 culverts, within 48 days. Their next mission was to move to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and lay 50 miles of track between Camp Claiborne and Fort Polk. The C&P Railroad, built by more than 6,000 troops, was given a different name as training began – the Crime and Punishment Railroad.
Because it was built on unstable ground, derailments were common. To make training more realistic, rails along the line were blown up or sabotaged so maintenance teams could train in rebuilding them. With this real-world training capability, the U.S. and Allied Forces wrote the book on wartime rail operations. Now, 85 years later, the U.S. Army returns to Fort Polk with a group of experts from ERDC to write the next chapter. https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1015363/85-years-rail-expertise-711th-erdc
