Simplify the following text for a Grade 9 native English-speaking person.
Original: Its importance further increased early in the 20th century with the completion of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway connecting Novosibirsk to Central Asia and the Caspian Sea .
Simplified: The importance of the city further increased with the completion of the Turkestan-Siberia Railway in the early 20th century . The new railway connected Novosibirsk to Central Asia and the Caspian Sea .