Question: How long does it take to cross Siberia?

Trans-Siberian Railway









[ vt ]Trans-Siberian Railway




































































































































0km0mi



Moscow YaroslavskyTerminal59km37miKhotkovo73km45miSergiyev PosadMoscow OblastVladimir Oblast112km70miAlexandrovBalakirevoVladimir OblastYaroslavl Oblast145km90miBerendeevoRyazantsevoSilnitsi200km124miPetrovskoye224km139miRostov YaroslavskiSemibratovoKozmodemyansk













































































































































































































































































































































284km176mi



Yaroslavl289km180miVolga River356km221miDanilovto Vologda and ArkhangelskSot394km245miLyubimSekshaYaroslavl OblastKostroma OblastBrodniKoregato Vologda450km280miBuiRossolovoKhramki501km311miGalichKrasilnikovoLoparevoMonakovoAntrolovoNikkolo-UgolNikolo-PolomaNomzhaYelenskiyNevaNelshaBrantovkaPetrushinoKostrikha651km405miManturovoVocherovoShekshemaVarakinskiyVetluga River698km434miSharyaZeblyakiYakshangaBurunduchikhaKostroma OblastKirov OblastSuprotivniyMetilGostovskayaShabalino818km508miSvetchaYumaKapidantsiAtsvezhDarovitsato Nizhny Novgorod & Moscow870km541miKotelnichVyatka RiverBistryagiOrichiStrizhiLyangasovoChukhlominskiy





















































































































































































































957km595mi



Kirov975km606miPozdinoPoloy995km618miBum-KombinatProsnitsaArdashiRekmino1052km654miZuevkato Verkhnekamskaya, Ivdel & SurgutKosaFalenkito Verkhnekamskaya & Ukhta1127km700miYarKirov OblastUdmurtiaKozmil1165km724miGlazov1194km742miBalyezinoPibanshur1221km759miCheptsa River1223km760miChepstaKezKabaludKuzmaUdmurtiaPerm KraiBorodulinoSubbotniki1310km814miVereshchaginoZyukay1340km833miMendeleevoGrigorevskaya1387km862miChaikovskayaShabunichi1410km876miOveryataKurya1432km890miKama River





















































































































1436km892mi



Perm1452km902miFermaMulyankaYugYergach1534km953miKungurKishertShumkovoTulumbasiKordonPerm KraiSverdlovsk OblastShamary1672km1039miShalyaSargaSabik1729km1074miKuzino1770km1100miPervouralsk1777km1104miEuropeAsiaIset River



























































































































1816km1128mi



YekaterinburgShartashPutevkaKosulinoGagarskiyBazhenovoGryaznovskaya1912km1188miBogdanovichPishminskayaYelansky1955km1215miKamyshlovAksarikhaOshchepkovoProselok2033km1263miTalitsa2064km1283miYushalaBahkmetskoyeTugulymKarmakSverdlovsk OblastTyumen Oblast

























































































































































2144km1332mi



TyumenVoynovkato Tobolsk & SurgutOzero AndreyevskoyaVinziliBogdaninskaya2222km1381miYalutorovskTobol RiverZavodoukovskNovaya ZaimkaVagayOmutinskayaLamyenskayaGolishmanovoKarasulskaya2431km1511miIshimIshim RiverMaslyanskayaNovo AndreyevskiyTyumen OblastOmsk OblastMangut2565km1594miNazyvayevskDragunskayaLyubinskaya2706km1681miIrtysh River













































































































































2712km1685mi



OmskKormilovka2760km1715miKalachinskIvanovkaOmsk OblastNovosibirsk OblastKaratkansk2885km1793miTatarskKabaklyChanyOzero KarachinskoyeKoshkulTebisskaya3040km1889miBarabinskKozhurlaUbinskayaKargatKokoshino3212km1996miChulymDuplenskayaLesnaya PolyanaChik3322km2064miOb3332km2070miOb River





















































































































































































































3335km2072mi



NovosibirskMochischeOyashChebula3463km2152miBolotnayaNovosibirsk OblastKemerovo Oblast3491km2169miYurgaTom RiverTalmenkaYashkinoKholkinoto Tomsk3570km2218miTaygaLikhtach3602km2238miAnzhero-SudzhenskYayaIzhmorskBerikulskAntibesskiyto Asino, Bely Yar,Nizhnevartovsk & Surgut3715km2308miMariinskSuslovoTyazhinItatKemerovo OblastKrasnoyarsk Krai3849km2392miBogotolKritovoChulym River3917km2434miAchinskto Lesosibirsk & Dudinka3960km2461miChernorechskKozulkaZeledeyevoKachaMinino













































































































































4098km2546mi



Krasnoyarsk4101km2548miYenisei RiverZlobinoZikovoSorokinoKamarchagaBalay4227km2627miUyar4262km2648miZaozyornayaKamalaSolyankaBoshnyakovo4343km2699miKansk-Yeniseiski4375km2718miIlanskayaIngashiskayaTinskayaReshotito YarkiKlyuchiKrasnoyarsk KraiIrkutsk OblastYurtiTayshet diversion lineto Kostomarovo (Baikal-Amur Mainline)Biryusinsk















































































































































































































4516km2806mi



Tayshet4520km2809miBaikal–Amur Mainline4555km2830miRazgonAlzamay4631km2878miKamyshetUk4680km2908miNizhneudinskKhingoyKhudoyelanskayaShebertaUtay4794km2979miTulunShubaTulyushka4875km3029miKuytunKharikKimeltey4940km3070miZimaTiretZalariIrkutsk OblastUst-OrdynskyGolovinskaya5027km3124miKutulikZabituyUst-OrdynskyIrkutsk Oblast5061km3145miCheremkhovo5087km3161miPolovinaBelaya5124km3184miUsolye-Sibirskoye5133km3189miTelmaKitoy5160km3206miAngarsk5170km3212miMeget5178km3217miIrkutsk-Sort

































































































































5185km3222mi



IrkutskKayaGoncharovoB. LugPodkamennayaKultuk5312km3301miSlyudyankaUtulik5358km3329miBaykalskMurinoIrkutsk OblastBuryatia5390km3349miVydrino5426km3372miTankhoiPereyemnaya5477km3403miMysovaya5530km3436miPosolskayaTimlyuy5562km3456miSelenginskTalovkaTataurovoSelenga River

















































































































































































5642km3506mi



Ulan-Ude5655km3514miTrans-Mongolian RailwayTalitsi5675km3526miOnokhoyZaigraevoChelutayIlka5734km3563miNovoilinskiKizmaBuryatiaZabaykalsky Krai5784km3594miPetrovsk-ZabaykalskyBalyagaTarbagataiNovo-PavlovkaTolbagaKhokhotay5884km3656miBadaZhipkhegen5932km3686miKhilokKhushengaKharagun6053km3761miMogzonKhilok River6093km3786miSokhondo6125km3806miYablonovayaLesnoyIngodaChernovskayaKadala













































6199km3852mi



ChitaPeschankaAtamanovkaNovayaMakkaveyevo6265km3893miDarasun6293km3910miKaraymskaya



































































































































































































6312km3922mi



Chinese Eastern RailwayUrulgaZubarevoRazmakhninoSolntsevaya6417km3987miOnon6446km4005miShilka-PassKholbon6496km4036miPriiskavayaNerchinsk6532km4059miKuengabranch to Sretensk6593km4097miChernyshevsky-Zabaikalski6629km4119miBushuleyKhoktonga6670km4145miZilovoUlyakanUryumSbega6789km4218miKsenevskayaKislyy KlugArteushkaRazdolnoye6906km4291miMogochaTaptugariSemiozernyy7010km4356miAmazarZhanna7075km4396miZabaykalsky Krai ⁄ Amur Oblast7119km4424miYerofei Pavlovich7211km4481miUrusha7266km4515miTakhtamigda



























































































































7273km4519mi



Amur–Yakutsk Mainline7306km4540miSkovorodino7323km4550miBolshoy NeverTaladanGonzha7501km4661miMagdagachiSulusTigda7602km4724miUshumunSivakiMukhinskayaBereya7723km4799miShimanovskaya7772km4829miLedyanayaBuzuli7815km4856miSvobodnyZeya RiverM. ChesnokovskayaSerishevo7873km4892miBelogorsk















































































































7875km4893mi



to BlagoveshchenskVozhayevkaPozdeyevkaYekaterinoslavka7992km4966miZavitaya8037km4994miBureyaDomikan8088km5026miArkharaRachiKundur-KhabarovskiyAmurJewish Autonomous Oblast8198km5094miObluchyeKimkan8234km5116miIzvestkovayaBirakanTeploye OzeroLondoko8306km5161miBira



















































8351km5189mi



BirobidzhanIn8480km5269miVolochayevkaKomsomolsk–Dezhnyovka railway lineto Komsomolsk-on-AmurDezhnevkaNikolayevka8512km5289miPriamurskaya8515km5291miAmur River Jewish Aut. OblastKhabarovsk Krai





























































































































































































8523km5296mi



KhabarovskKorfovskaya8598km5343miVerino8621km5357miKhorDormidontovka8642km5370miVyazemskayaRozengartovka8756km5441miBikinKhabarovsk KraiPrimorsky KraiZvenevoiBurlit-VolochayevskiyLuchegorskGuberovo8890km5524miDalnerechensk8900km5530miLazoRuzhinoLesozavodskShmakovkaSviyagino9050km5623miSpassk-DalnyMuchnaya9109km5660miSibirtsevoIpplolitovkaOzernaya PadDubininskiy9177km5702miUssuriyskBaranovskyBaranovsky–Khasan railway lineto Khasan & RajinNadezdinskayato Nakhodka9255km5751miUgolnaya9289km5772miVladivostok
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR, Russian:Транссибирская магистраль, tr.Transsibirskaya magistral',IPA:[trənsʲsʲɪˈbʲirskəjə məgʲɪˈstralʲ]) is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East.[1] With a length of 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles), it is the longest railway line in the world.   There are connecting branch lines into Mongolia, China and North Korea. It has connected Moscow with Vladivostok since 1916, and is still being expanded.
It was built between 1891 and 1916 under the supervision of Russian government ministers personally appointed by Tsar Alexander III and his son, the Tsarevich Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II). Even before it had been completed, it attracted travellers who wrote of their adventures.[2]
Route description

The railway is often associated with the main transcontinental Russian line that connects hundreds of large and small cities of the European and Asian parts of Russia. At a Moscow–Vladivostok track length of 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles),[3] it spans a record eight time zones.[4] Taking eight days to complete the journey, it is the third-longest single continuous service in the world, after the Moscow–Pyongyang 10,267 kilometres (6,380mi)[5] and the Kiev–Vladivostok 11,085 kilometres (6,888mi)[6] services, both of which also follow the Trans-Siberian for much of their routes.
The main route of the Trans-Siberian Railway begins in Moscow at Yaroslavsky Vokzal, runs through Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, and Khabarovsk to Vladivostok via southern Siberia. A second primary route is the Trans-Manchurian, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian east of Chita as far as Tarskaya (a stop 12km (7mi) east of Karymskoye, in Chita Oblast), about 1,000km (621mi) east of Lake Baikal. From Tarskaya the Trans-Manchurian heads southeast, via Harbin and Mudanjiang in China's Northeastern Provinces (from where a connection to Beijing is used by one of the Moscow–Beijing trains), joining with the main route in Ussuriysk just north of Vladivostok. This is the shortest and the oldest railway route to Vladivostok. While there are currently no traverse passenger services (enter China from one side and then exit China and return to Russia on the other side) on this branch, it is still used by several international passenger services between Russia and China.
The third primary route is the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian as far as Ulan-Ude on Lake Baikal's eastern shore. From Ulan-Ude the Trans-Mongolian heads south to Ulaan-Baatar before making its way southeast to Beijing. In 1991, a fourth route running further to the north was finally completed, after more than five decades of sporadic work. Known as the Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM), this recent extension departs from the Trans-Siberian line at Taishet several hundred miles west of Lake Baikal and passes the lake at its northernmost extremity. It crosses the Amur River at Komsomolsk-na-Amure (north of Khabarovsk), and reaches the Tatar Strait at Sovetskaya Gavan. On 13 October 2011, a train from Khasan made its inaugural run to Rajin, North Korea.
History

Demand and design
In the late 19th century, the development of Siberia was hampered by poor transport links within the region, as well as with the rest of the country. Aside from the Great Siberian Route, good roads suitable for wheeled transport were rare. For about five months of the year, rivers were the main means of transport. During the cold half of the year, cargo and passengers travelled by horse-drawn sledges over the winter roads, many of which were the same rivers, but ice-covered.
The first steamboat on the River Ob, Nikita Myasnikov's Osnova, was launched in 1844. But early beginnings were difficult, and it was not until 1857 that steamboat shipping started developing on the Ob system in a serious way. Steamboats started operating on the Yenisei in 1863, and on the Lena and Amur in the 1870s. While the comparative flatness of Western Siberia was at least fairly well served by the gigantic Ob–Irtysh–Tobol–Chulym river system, the mighty rivers of Eastern Siberia—the Yenisei, the upper course of the Angara River (the Angara below Bratsk was not easily navigable because of the rapids), and the Lena—were mostly navigable only in the north-south direction. An attempt to partially remedy the situation by building the Ob-Yenisei Canal was not particularly successful. Only a railway could be a real solution to the region's transport problems.
The first railway projects in Siberia emerged after the completion of the Saint Petersburg–Moscow Railway in 1851.[7] One of the first was the Irkutsk–Chita project, proposed by the American entrepreneur Perry Collins and supported by Transport Minister Constantine Possiet with a view toward connecting Moscow to the Amur River, and consequently, to the Pacific Ocean. Siberia's governor, Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, was anxious to advance the colonisation of the Russian Far East, but his plans could not materialise as long as the colonists had to import grain and other food from China and Korea.[8] It was on Muravyov's initiative that surveys for a railway in the Khabarovsk region were conducted.
Before 1880, the central government had virtually ignored these projects, because of the weakness of Siberian enterprises, a clumsy bureaucracy, and fear of financial risk. By 1880, there were a large number of rejected and upcoming applications for permission to construct railways to connect Siberia with the Pacific, but not Eastern Russia. This worried the government and made connecting Siberia with Central Russia a pressing concern. The design process lasted 10 years. Along with the route actually constructed, alternative projects were proposed:
Southern route: via Kazakhstan, Barnaul, Abakan and Mongolia.
Northern route: via Tyumen, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Yeniseysk and the modern Baikal Amur Mainline or even through Yakutsk.
The line was divided into seven sections, on all or most of which work proceeded simultaneously, using the labour of 62,000 men. The total cost was estimated at £35 million sterling; the first section (Chelyabinsk to the River Ob) was finished at a cost £900,000 less than the estimate.[9] Railwaymen fought against suggestions to save funds, for example, by installing ferryboats instead of bridges over the rivers until traffic increased. The designers insisted and secured the decision to construct an uninterrupted railway.
Unlike the rejected private projects that intended to connect the existing cities demanding transport, the Trans-Siberian did not have such a priority. Thus, to save money and avoid clashes with land owners, it was decided to lay the railway outside the existing cities. Tomsk was the largest city, and the most unfortunate, because the swampy banks of the Ob River near it were considered inappropriate for a bridge. The railway was laid 70km (43mi) to the south (instead crossing the Ob at Novonikolaevsk, later renamed Novosibirsk); just a dead-end branch line connected with Tomsk, depriving the city of the prospective transit railway traffic and trade.
Construction

In March 1890, the Tsarevich (later Tsar Nicholas II) personally inaugurated the construction of the Far East segment of the Trans-Siberian Railway during his stop at Vladivostok, after visiting Japan at the end of his journey around the world. Nicholas II made notes in his diary about his anticipation of travelling in the comfort of "the tsar's train" across the unspoiled wilderness of Siberia. The tsar's train was designed and built in St. Petersburg to serve as the main mobile office of the tsar and his staff for travelling across Russia.


On 9 March 1891, the Russian government issued an imperial rescript in which it announced its intention to construct a railway across Siberia.[10] Tsarevich Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II) inaugurated the construction of the railway in Vladivostok on 19 May that year.[11] The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was overseen by Sergei Witte, who was then finance minister. Similar to the First Transcontinental Railroad in the US, Russian engineers started construction at both ends and worked towards the centre. From Vladivostok the railway was laid north along the right bank of the Ussuri River to Khabarovsk at the Amur River, becoming the Ussuri Railway.
In 1890, a bridge across the Ural River was built and the new railway entered Asia. The bridge across the Ob River was built in 1898 and the small city of Novonikolaevsk, founded in 1883, grew into the large Siberian city of Novosibirsk. In 1898 the first train reached Irkutsk and the shores of Lake Baikal about 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of the city. The railway ran on to the east, across the Shilka and Amur rivers and soon reached Khabarovsk. The Vladivostok to Khabarovsk section was built slightly earlier, in 1897. Russian soldiers, as well as convict labourers from Sakhalin and other places were used for building the railway.
Lake Baikal is more than 640 kilometres (400 miles) long and more than 1,600 metres (5,200 feet) deep. Until the Circum-Baikal Railway was built the line ended on either side of the lake. The ice-breaking train ferry SS<i>Baikal built in 1897 and smaller ferry SS Angara built in about 1900 made the four-hour crossing to link the two railheads.[12][13]
The Russian admiral and explorer Stepan Makarov (1849–1904) designed Baikal and Angara but they were built in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, by Armstrong Whitworth. They were "knock down" vessels; that is, each ship was bolted together in England, every part of the ship was marked with a number, the ship was disassembled into many hundreds of parts and transported in kit form to Listvyanka where a shipyard was built especially to reassemble them.[13] Their boilers, engines and some other components were built in Saint Petersburg[13] and transported to Listvyanka to be installed. Baikal had 15 boilers, four funnels, and was 64 metres (210ft) long. it could carry 24 railway coaches and one locomotive on the middle deck. Angara was smaller, with two funnels.[12][13]
Completion of the Circum-Baikal Railway in 1904 bypassed the ferries, but from time to time the Circum-Baikal Railway suffered from derailments or rockfalls so both ships were held in reserve until 1916. Baikal was burnt out and destroyed in the Russian Civil War[12][13] but Angara survives. It has been restored and is permanently moored at Irkutsk where it serves as an office and a museum.[12]
In winter, sleighs were used to move passengers and cargo from one side of the lake to the other until the completion of the Lake Baikal spur along the southern edge of the lake. With the Amur River Line north of the Chinese border being completed in 1916, there was a continuous railway from Petrograd to Vladivostok that remains to this day the world's longest railway line. Electrification of the line, begun in 1929 and completed in 2002, allowed a doubling of train weights to 6,000 tonnes. There were expectations upon electrification that it would increase rail traffic on the line by 40 percent.[14]
The additional Chinese Eastern Railway was constructed as the Russo-Chinese part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting Russia with China and providing a shorter route to Vladivostok. A Russian staff and administration based in Harbin operated it.
Effects

Siberian agriculture began to send cheap grain westwards beginning around 1869. Agriculture in Central Russia was still under economic pressure after the end of serfdom, which was formally abolished in 1861. To defend the central territory and prevent possible social destabilisation, the Tsarist government introduced the Chelyabinsk tariff-break (Челябинский тарифный перелом) in 1896, a tariff barrier for grain passing through Chelyabinsk, and a similar barrier in Manchuria. This measure changed the nature of export: mills emerged to produce bread from grain in Altai Krai, Novosibirsk and Tomsk, and many farms switched to corn (maize) production. 
The railway immediately filled to capacity with local traffic, mostly wheat. From 1896 until 1913 Siberia exported on average 501,932 tonnes (30,643,000 pood) of grain and flour annually.[15] During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, military traffic to the east disrupted the flow of civil freight.
The Trans-Siberian Railway brought with it millions of peasant-migrants from the Western regions of Russia and Ukraine.[16] Between 1906 and 1914, the peak migration years, about 4 million peasants arrived in Siberia.[17] Despite the low speed and low possible weights of trains, the railway fulfilled its promised role as a transit route between Europe and East Asia.
War and revolution
In the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the strategic importance and limitations of the Trans-Siberian Railway contributed to Russia's defeat in the war. As the line was single track, transit was slower as trains had to wait in crossing sidings for opposing trains to cross. This limited the capacity of the line and increased transit times. A troop train or a train carrying injured personnel travelling from east to west would delay the arrival of troops or supplies and ammunition in a train travelling from west to east. The supply difficulties meant the Russian forcess had limited troops and supplies while Japanese forces with shorter lines of communication were able to attack and advance. 
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the railway served as the vital line of communication for the Czechoslovak Legion and the allied armies that landed troops at Vladivostok during the Siberian Intervention of the Russian Civil War. These forces supported the White Russian government of Admiral Alexander Kolchak, based in Omsk, and White Russian soldiers fighting the Bolsheviks on the Ural front. The intervention was weakened, and ultimately defeated, by partisan fighters who blew up bridges and sections of track, particularly in the volatile region between Krasnoyarsk and Chita.[18]
The Trans-Siberian Railway also played a very direct role during parts of Russia's history, with the Czechoslovak Legion using heavily armed and armoured trains to control large amounts of the railway (and of Russia itself) during the Russian Civil War at the end of World War I.[19] As one of the few organised fighting forces left in the aftermath of the imperial collapse, and before the Red Army took control, the Czechs and Slovaks were able to use their organisation and the resources of the railway to establish a temporary zone of control before eventually continuing onwards towards Vladivostok, from where they emigrated back to Czechoslovakia.
World War II

During World War II, the Trans-Siberian Railway played an important role in the supply of the powers fighting in Europe. During the first two years of the war the USSR had secretly agreed to a neutrality and non-aggression pact with Germany. While Germany's merchant shipping was interdicted by the Western allies, the Trans-Siberian Railway (along with its Trans-Manchurian branch) served as the essential link between Germany and Japan. One commodity particularly essential for the German war effort was natural rubber, which Japan was able to source from  South-East Asia (in particular, French Indochina).
As of March 1941, 300 tonnes of this material would, on average, traverse the Trans-Siberian Railway every day on its way to Germany. According to one analysis of the natural rubber supply chain, as of 22 March 1941, 5,800 tonnes of this essential material were transiting on the Soviet railway network between the borders of Manchukuo and the Third Reich, 2,000 tonnes were transiting Manchukuo, 4,000 tonnes were sitting in Dairen, 3,800 tonnes were in Japan, and 5,700 tonnes, on the way from South-East Asia to Japan.[20]
At this time, a number of Jews and anti-Nazis used the Trans-Siberian Railway to escape Europe, including the mathematician Kurt Gödel and Betty Ehrlich Löwenstein, mother of British actor, director and producer Heinz Bernard.[21] Several thousand Jewish refugees were able to make this trip thanks to the Japanese visas issued by the Japanese consul, Chiune Sugihara, in Kaunas, Lithuania. Typically they would travel east on the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Pacific Ocean where they would board a ship bound for the USA.
The situation reversed after 22 June 1941. By invading the Soviet Union, Germany cut off its only reliable trade route to Japan. Instead, it had to use fast merchant ships (blockade runners) and later large oceanic submarines in an attempt to evade the allied maritime patrols. On the other hand, the USSR became the recipient of lend lease supplies from the USA. Even though Japan went to war with the USA, it was anxious to preserve good relations with the USSR and, despite German complaints, usually allowed Soviet ships to sail between the USA and Russia's Pacific ports unmolested.[22] This contrasted with Germany and Britain's behaviour; their navies would destroy or capture neutrals' ships sailing to their respective adversaries. As a result, the Pacific Route – involving crossing the northern Pacific Ocean and the Trans-Siberian Railway – became the safest connection between the USA and the USSR.
Accordingly, it accounted for as much freight as the two other routes (North Atlantic–Arctic and Iranian) combined, though cargoes were limited to raw materials and non-military goods (locomotives, clothing, foodstuffs etc.). From 1941–42 the railway also played an important role in relocating Soviet industries from European Russia to Siberia in the face of the German invasion. 
The railway transported Soviet troops west from the Far East to take part in the Soviet counter-offensive in December 1941, and later east from Germany to the Japanese front in preparation for the Soviet–Japanese War of August 1945. Although the Japanese estimated that an attack was not likely before Spring 1946, Stakva had planned for a mid-August 1945 offensive, and had concealed the buildup of a force of 90 divisions; many had crossed Siberia in their vehicles to avoid straining the rail link.[23]
Today

The Trans-Siberian line remains the most important transport link within Russia; around 30% of Russian exports travel on the line. While it attracts many foreign tourists, it gets most of its use from domestic passengers.

Today the Trans-Siberian Railway carries about 200,000 containers per year to Europe. Russian Railways intends to at least double the volume of container traffic on the Trans-Siberian and is developing a fleet of specialised cars and increasing terminal capacity at the ports by a factor of 3 to 4. By 2010, the volume of traffic between Russia and China could reach 60 million tons (54 million tonnes), most of which will go by the Trans-Siberian.[24]
With perfect coordination of the participating countries' railway authorities, a trainload of containers can be taken from Beijing to Hamburg, via the Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Siberian lines in as little as 15 days, but typical cargo transit times are usually significantly longer[25] and typical cargo transit time from Japan to major destinations in European Russia was reported as around 25 days.[26]
According to a 2009 report, the best travel times for cargo block trains from Russia's Pacific ports to the western border (of Russia, or perhaps of Belarus) were around 12 days, with trains making around 900km (559mi) per day, at a maximum operating speed of 80km/h (50mph). However, in early 2009, Russian Railways announced an ambitious "Trans-Siberian in Seven Days" programme; according to this plan, $11 billion will be invested over the next five years to make it possible for goods traffic to cover the same 9,000km (5,592mi) distance in just seven days. The plan will involve increasing the cargo trains' speed to 90km/h (56mph) in 2010–12, and, at least on some sections, to 100km/h (62mph) by 2015. At these speeds, goods trains will be able to cover 1,500km (932mi) per day.[27]
Developments in shipping

On 11 January 2008, China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany agreed to collaborate on a cargo train service between Beijing and Hamburg.[28]
The railway can typically deliver containers in ​1⁄3 to ​1⁄2 of the time of a sea voyage, and in late 2009 announced a 20% reduction in its container shipping rates. With its 2009 rate schedule, the TSR will transport a forty-foot container to Poland from Yokohama for $2,820, or from Busan for $2,154.[29]
One of the most complicating factors related to such ventures is the fact that the CIS states' broad railway gauge is incompatible with China and Western and Central Europe's standard gauge. Therefore, a train travelling from China to Western Europe would encounter gauge breaks twice: at the Chinese–Mongolian or the Chinese–Russian frontier and at the Ukrainian or the Belorussian border with Central European countries.
TransSiberian route in 7 days
In 2008, the Russian Railways JSC (state company)  launched a program for the accelerated delivery of containers cargo by block trains from the Far-Eastern ports (Vladivostok, Nakhodka and others) to the western borders of Russia, called "Transsib in 7 days".
Within the framework of the program it is planned to decrease the cargo delivery time from the Far East from 11 days in 2008 to 7 days in 2015. The length of the routes is about 10,000 km. The speed of delivery via the block trains should increase from 900 km per day in 2008 to 1,500 km per day in 2015.
The first accelerated experimental block-train was launched in February 2009 from the Vladivostok station to Moscow. The length of the route was about 9,300 km, the actual time of the experimental train's delivery was 7 days and 5 hours, the average route speed was up to 1,289 km / day. The maximum route speed of the train was 1,422 km / day.
Gallery

Start of Trans-Siberian railway in Moscow.
Bashkir switchman near the town Ust' Katav on the Yuryuzan River between Ufa and Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains region, c. 1910
View from the rear platform of the Simskaia railway station of the Samara–Zlatoust Railway, c. 1910
Almost every station on Trans-Siberian Railway have food sellers, often by local vendors which sell local food such as fish (like Baikal omul), pirozhki, and potatoes. Beside food-stands there are also small kiosks
Snow in late-April at Nazyvayevsk station, Siberia.
The train ferry SS<i>Baikal in service on Lake Baikal
Train entering a Circum-Baikal tunnel west of Kultuk
Vladivostok terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway
The marker for kilometre 9,288 at the end of the Trans-Siberian Railway at Vladivostok railway station

Routes
Trans-Siberian line
A commonly used main line route is as follows. Distances and travel times are from the schedule of train No. 002M, Moscow–Vladivostok.[3]

There are many alternative routings between Moscow and Siberia. For example:
Some trains would leave Moscow from Kazansky Rail Terminal instead of Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal; this would save some 20km (12mi) off the distances, because it provides a shorter exit from Moscow onto the Nizhny Novgorod main line.
One can take a night train from Moscow's Kursky Rail Terminal to Nizhny Novgorod, make a stopover in the Nizhny and then transfer to a Siberia-bound train
From 1956 to 2001 many trains went between Moscow and Kirov via Yaroslavl instead of Nizhny Novgorod. This would add some 29km (18mi) to the distances from Moscow, making the total distance to Vladivostok at 9,288km (5,771mi).
Other trains get from Moscow (Kazansky Terminal) to Yekaterinburg via Kazan.
Between Yekaterinburg and Omsk it is possible to travel via Kurgan Petropavlovsk (in Kazakhstan) instead of Tyumen.
One can bypass Yekaterinburg altogether by travelling via Samara, Ufa, Chelyabinsk and Petropavlovsk; this was historically the earliest configuration.
Depending on the route taken, the distances from Moscow to the same station in Siberia may differ by several tens of km.
Trans-Manchurian line

The Trans-Manchurian line, as e.g. used by train No.020, Moscow–Beijing[30] follows the same route as the Trans-Siberian between Moscow and Chita and then follows this
route to China:
Branch off from the Trans-Siberian-line at Tarskaya (6,274km (3,898mi) from Moscow)
Zabaikalsk (6,626km), Russian border town; there is a break-of-gauge
Manzhouli (6,638km (4,125mi) from Moscow, 2,323km (1,443mi) from Beijing), Chinese border town
Harbin (7,573km (4,706mi), 1,388km)
Changchun (7,820km (4,859mi) from Moscow)
Beijing (8,961km (5,568mi) from Moscow)
The express train (No. 020) travel time from Moscow to Beijing is just over six days. There is no direct passenger service along the entire original Trans-Manchurian route (i.e., from Moscow or anywhere in Russia, west of Manchuria, to Vladivostok via Harbin), due to the obvious administrative and technical (gauge break) inconveniences of crossing the border twice. However, assuming sufficient patience and possession of appropriate visas, it is still possible to travel all the way along the original route, with a few stopovers (e.g. in Harbin, Grodekovo and Ussuriysk).
Such an itinerary would pass through the following points from Harbin east:
Harbin (7,573km (4,706mi) from Moscow)
Mudanjiang (7,928km)
Suifenhe (8,121km), the Chinese border station
Grodekovo (8,147km), Russia
Ussuriysk (8,244km)
Vladivostok (8,356km)
Trans-Mongolian line

The Trans-Mongolian line follows the same route as the Trans-Siberian between Moscow and Ulan Ude, and then follows this route to Mongolia and China:
Branch off from the Trans-Siberian line (5,655km (3,514mi) from Moscow)
Naushki (5,895km (3,663mi), MT+5), Russian border town
Russian–Mongolian border (5,900km (3,666mi), MT+5)
Sükhbaatar (5,921km (3,679mi), MT+5), Mongolian border town
Ulaanbaatar (6,304km (3,917mi), MT+5), the Mongolian capital
Zamyn-Üüd (7,013km (4,358mi), MT+5), Mongolian border town
Erenhot (842km (523mi) from Beijing, MT+5), Chinese border town
Datong (371km (231mi), MT+5)
Beijing (MT+5)
Future proposals
New lines
New lines between Perm and Mariinsk via Ural base tunnel, Nizhny Tagil, Tyumen and Tomsk, from Krasnoyarsk via Eniseisk, Ermakovo, Igarka to Dudinka, from Kirov via Tobolsk, Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk, Eniseisk to Bratsk, and from Nizhny Tagil via Tobolsk and Tomsk to Eniseisk are proposed.
Details:
Track gauge: 1,520mm (4ft1127⁄32in) Russian gauge
Electrification: 25 kV 50Hz AC overhead lines
Loading gauge: 4.1 metres (13.5 feet) wide and 6.15 metres (20.2 feet) tall
Platform height: 200mm (7.9in) above rails
Minimum overhead line height: 6.5 metres (21.3 feet) above rails
Proposed platform heights by routes
High platform line
Moscow-Kazanskaya - Ryazan - Samara - Ufa - Chelyabinsk - Kurgan route should be 1,100mm (43.3in) for DC EMUs and 550mm (21.7in) for the other trains.
Low platform lines
Trans-Siberian lines except high platform line (see above) should be 200mm (7.9in) for most platforms and 550mm (21.7in) for some platforms.
See also
Railwaysportal
Baikal–Amur Mainline
Famous trains
History of Siberia
Russian gauge
Broad gauge
Russian Railways
Sibirjak
Starlight Express, a train musical in which a character is modeled on the Trans-Siberian Express.
Trans-Siberian Railway Panorama


Further reading








 Guide book for travelers
 Guide book for travelers







 Media related to Trans-Siberian railway at Wikimedia Commons
Main Page travel guide from Wikivoyage
, national geographic expeditions
 (27 December 2016), The Guardian.  Photographs of "life on board the Trans-Siberian Railway, and beyond the carriage window." 



 (1900)

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 illustrated description of the route and the train
 on YouTube