Importance of Moscow to the USSR

[stg 44]

That is a single track line. It was only double up to a point, which your red markings obscure.

[TheMarcksPlan]

That is a single track line. It was only double up to a point, which your red markings obscure.

Regardless, there are two lines to Leningrad even if Moscow (but not Gorkiy) falls.

Askey's claim is there's only one single-track railway and that's just wrong.

The Soviets could move at least 30 trains each way per day per single-track line. At 500 tons per train that's 30,000 tons/day or enough for >100 divisions. So even given some traffic for Leningrad itself train capacity would not have impinged Soviet defense of Leningrad had Moscow fallen.