The Trans-Siberian Railway (Great Siberian Way) surpasses any railway line on our planet; it took almost a quarter of a century to build - from 1891 to 1916, and its total length is more than 10,000 kilometers. The Trans-Siberian Railway reliably connects Russian western and southern ports, as well as railway exits to Europe (St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Novorossiysk), on the one hand, with Pacific ports and railway exits to Asia (Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Vanino, Zabaikalsk). The history of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway will be discussed below...
So, we continue the series of stories about construction projects of the century on LifeGlobe. This highway is one of the longest in the world, and the most difficult in the world in terms of construction conditions. The Trans-Siberian Railway is one of the most important achievements, along with the DneproGes, BAM and other construction projects of the century, which we have already talked about. Let's look at the history of the highway: They started talking about construction back in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1857, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia N.N. Muravyov-Amursky raised the issue of construction railway on the Siberian outskirts of Russia. He instructed military engineer D. Romanov to conduct research and draw up a project for the construction of a railway from the Amur to De-Kastri Bay. The first practical impetus for the construction of the grandiose highway was given by the Emperor of the Russian Empire, Alexander III. In 1886, the sovereign imposed a resolution on the report of the Irkutsk Governor-General:
“I have read so many reports of the governors general of Siberia and I must admit with sadness and shame that the government has so far done almost nothing to meet the needs of this rich but neglected region. And it’s high time, it’s high time.”
Alexander III 
The Russian merchants especially actively supported the idea of construction. Thus, in the all-submissive address of the Siberian merchants in 1868, it was emphasized
“We alone, Sovereign, Your Siberian children, are far from You, if not in heart, then in space. This is why we suffer great needs.
The riches of the arable soil lie useless for Thy throne and for us. Grant us a railway, bring us closer to You, alienated from You. They commanded that Siberia be integrated into a single state.”
At the same time, there were also principled opponents to the construction of a railway in Siberia. They frightened with rotten swamps and dense taiga, terrible cold and the inability to develop agriculture. They even urgently demanded an urgent medical examination to determine the mental abilities of the defenders of the idea of building railways in Siberia. The acting governor of Tobolsk, A. Sologub, responded to the government’s request about the possibility and necessity of building a highway in Siberia, that all sorts of swindlers, buyers and the like would come to the province with railways, that a fight would break out between foreigners and Russian merchants, that the people would be ruined, and all the benefits will go to foreigners and crooks. And the most significant: “Observing the preservation of order in the region will become impossible, and, in conclusion, supervision of political exiles will become more difficult due to easier escapes.” 
The Committee of Ministers considered on December 18, 1884 and January 2, 1885 the submission of the Ministry of Railways. As before, the votes were divided. Therefore, the Committee of Ministers came to the conclusion that indicating the specific direction of the road within Siberia due to the lack of information about the economy of many regions of Western Siberia, especially the movement of goods along them, is premature. At the same time, he recognized that it was possible to resolve without starting the construction of the road from Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan, construction of a road from Samara to Ufa. This decision was influenced by the statement of the chairman State Council Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich about the importance of state-owned artillery factories of the Zlatoust district for the country. The decision of the Committee of Ministers was approved by the emperor on January 6, and on January 25 he allowed the construction of the road to begin at the expense of the treasury. Construction work began in the spring of 1886, and in September 1886 the route to Ufa was opened. The work was supervised by the famous engineer K. Mikhailovsky. In the same year, under his leadership, construction of the road to Zlatoust began. Construction work had to be carried out in mountainous areas. Many artificial structures were erected. In August 1890, trains ran along the entire Samara-Zlatoust road 
According to estimates by the Committee for the Construction of the Siberian Railway, the cost of the project reached 350 million rubles in gold. Almost all work was done by hand, using an axe, saw, shovel, pick and wheelbarrow. Despite this, about 500–600 km of railway track were laid annually. History has never seen such a pace. The most acute and intractable problem was the provision of labor for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The need for skilled workers was satisfied by the recruitment and transfer of construction workers from the center of the country to Siberia. In the midst construction work 84–89 thousand people were employed in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was carried out in harsh natural and climatic conditions. Almost the entire length of the route was laid through sparsely populated or deserted areas, in impassable taiga. It crossed mighty Siberian rivers, numerous lakes, areas of high swampiness and permafrost (from Kuenga to Bochkarevo, now Belogorsk). The area around Lake Baikal (Baikal station - Mysovaya station) presented exceptional difficulties for the builders. Here it was necessary to blow up rocks, build tunnels, and erect artificial structures in the gorges of mountain rivers flowing into Lake Baikal.
The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway required enormous funds. According to preliminary calculations of the Committee for the Construction of the Siberian Railway, its cost was determined at 350 million rubles. gold, therefore, in order to speed up and reduce the cost of construction, in 1891-1892. for the Ussuriyskaya line and the West Siberian line (from Chelyabinsk to the Ob River) simplified technical conditions were taken as a basis. Thus, according to the recommendations of the Committee, they reduced the width of the roadbed in embankments, excavations and mountain areas, as well as the thickness of the ballast layer, laid lightweight rails and shortened sleepers, reduced the number of sleepers per 1 km of track, etc. Capital construction was envisaged only for large railways bridges, and medium and small bridges were supposed to be built wooden. The distance between stations was allowed up to 50 versts; track buildings were built on wooden poles. Here builders first encountered permafrost. Traffic along the Trans-Baikal Railway was opened in 1900. And in 1907, at Mozgon station, the world’s first building on permafrost was built, which still stands today. A new method of constructing buildings on permafrost has been adopted in Canada, Greenland and Alaska. 
In terms of the speed of construction (within 12 years), the length (7.5 thousand km), the difficulties of construction and the volume of work performed, the Great Siberian Railway had no equal in the whole world. In conditions of almost complete roadlessness, a lot of time and money was spent on delivering the necessary building materials - and in fact everything had to be imported except timber. For example, for the bridge over the Irtysh and for the station in Omsk, stone was transported 740 versts by rail from Chelyabinsk and 580 versts from the banks of the Ob, as well as by water on barges from quarries located on the banks of the Irtysh 900 versts above the bridge. Metal structures for the bridge over the Amur were manufactured in Warsaw and delivered by rail to Odessa, and then transported by sea to Vladivostok, and from there by rail to Khabarovsk. In the fall of 1914, a German cruiser sank a Belgian steamer in the Indian Ocean that was carrying steel parts for the last two trusses of the bridge, which delayed the completion of the work by a year. 
Trans-Siberian Railway already in the first period of operation revealed its great value for economic development, contributed to the acceleration and growth of goods turnover. However, the road's capacity turned out to be insufficient. Traffic on the Siberian and Transbaikal railways became extremely tense during the Russian- Japanese war when troops poured in from the west. The highway could not cope with the movement of troops and the delivery of military cargo. During the war, the Siberian Railway carried only 13 trains per day, so a decision was made to reduce the transportation of civil goods and, after a few decades, to build the Baikal-Amur Mainline (more information about the construction of the BAM at the link) 
The train departs from Moscow, crosses the Volga and then turns southeast towards the Urals, where it - some 1,800 kilometers from Moscow - passes the border between Europe and Asia. From Ekaterinburg, a large industrial center in the Urals, the route goes to Omsk and Novosibirsk, through the Ob - one of the mighty Siberian rivers with intensive shipping, and further to Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei. Then the train goes to Irkutsk, overcomes the mountain range along the southern shore of Lake Baikal, cuts off the corner of the Gobi Desert and, having passed Khabarovsk, heads for the final destination of the route - Vladivostok. There are 87 cities on the Trans-Siberian Railway with a population ranging from 300 thousand to 15 million people. The 14 cities through which the Trans-Siberian Railway passes are the centers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In the regions served by the highway, more than 65% of the coal produced in Russia is mined, almost 20% of oil refining and 25% of commercial timber production are carried out. More than 80% of the deposits of basic natural resources are concentrated here, including oil, gas, coal, timber, ferrous and non-ferrous metal ores. In the east, through the border stations of Khasan, Grodekovo, Zabaikalsk, Naushki, the Transsib provides access to the railway network of North Korea, China and Mongolia, and in the west, through Russian ports and border crossings with the former republics Soviet Union- to European countries. The Trans-Siberian Railway is indicated by a red line on the map, the green line is the BAM 
The entire Trans-Siberian Railway is divided into several sections:
1. The Ussuri Railway, with a total length of 769 kilometers with thirty-nine separate points, entered permanent operation in November 1897. It became the first railway in the Far East. 
2. West Siberian road. With the exception of the watershed between Ishim and Irtysh, it passes through flat terrain. The road rises only at the approaches to bridges over large rivers. Only to bypass reservoirs, ravines and when crossing rivers does the route deviate from a straight line 
3. Construction of the Central Siberian Road began in January 1898. Along its length there are bridges across the rivers Tom, Iya, Uda, Kiya. The unique bridge across the Yenisei was designed by an outstanding bridge builder - Professor L. D. Proskuryakov. 
4. The Trans-Baikal Railway is part of the Great Siberian Railway, which starts from the Mysovaya station on Lake Baikal and ends at the Sretensk pier on the Amur. The route runs along the shores of Lake Baikal and crosses numerous mountain rivers. Construction of the road began in 1895 under the leadership of engineer A. N. Pushechnikov. 
5. After the signing of an agreement between Russia and China, construction began on the Manzhursky road connecting the Siberian Railway with Vladivostok. The new road, 6,503 kilometers long, made it possible to open through railway traffic from Chelyabinsk to Vladivostok. 
6. Construction of the Circum-Baikal section began at the very last stage (in 1900), since it is the most difficult and expensive area. The construction of the most difficult section of the road between capes Aslomov and Sharazhangai was headed by engineer A. V. Liverovsky. The length of this highway is an eighteenth of the total length of the road, and its construction required a fourth of the total cost of the road. Throughout the journey, the train passes through twelve tunnels and four galleries. The Circum-Baikal Railway is a unique monument of engineering architecture. On May 17, 1891, Tsar Alexander III issued a decree on the beginning of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, “ordering now to begin the construction of a continuous railway across the whole of Siberia, which will connect the abundant Siberian regions with a network of internal rail communications.” At the beginning of 1902, the construction of the Circum-Baikal Railway began, headed by engineer B.U. Savrimovich. The railway track along the shore of Lake Baikal was built mainly in 2 years 3 months and put into operation almost a year ahead of schedule (which was greatly facilitated by the outbreak of hostilities in the Far East). On September 30, 1904, the working movement on the Circum-Baikal Railway began (the Minister of Railways, Prince M.I. Khilkov, traveled on the first train from the port of Baikal to Kultuk), and on October 15, 1905, permanent traffic was opened. In the photo: tunnel No. 8 broken through the rock of Cape Tolstoy.
7. In 1906, work began on the Amur Road route, which is divided into the North Amur Line (from Kerak station to the Burey River, 675 kilometers long with a branch to Blagoveshchensk) and the East Amur Line. 
In the 1990s - 2000s, a number of measures were taken to modernize the Trans-Siberian Railway, designed to increase the capacity of the line. In particular, the railway bridge across the Amur near Khabarovsk was reconstructed, as a result of which the last single-track section of the Trans-Siberian Railway was eliminated. Further modernization of the road is expected due to the obsolescence of the infrastructure and rolling stock. Preliminary negotiations are underway with Japan, aimed at the possibility of building Shinkansen-type tracks, which will reduce the total travel time from Vladivostok to Moscow from 6 days to 2-3. On January 11, 2008, China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany entered into an agreement on a project to optimize Beijing-Hamburg freight traffic 
The creation of the Trans-Siberian Railway is the greatest achievement of the Russian people. With difficulties and joys, the builders completed the road. They paved it on their bones, blood and humiliation, but still managed to do this incredibly hard work. This road allowed Russia to transport a huge number of passengers and cargo. Every year, up to 100 million tons of cargo are transported along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Thanks to the construction of the highway, uninhabited areas of Siberia were populated. If the Trans-Siberian Railway had not been built, Russia would probably have lost most of its northern territories
Historically, the Trans-Siberian Railway is the eastern part of the highway, from Miass (Chelyabinsk region) to Vladivostok. Its length is about 7 thousand km. This site was built from 1891 to 1916.
On February 25 (March 9), 1891, Alexander III signed a personal imperial decree, given to the minister communications, about the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. According to preliminary calculations, the cost of building the railway was to be 350 million rubles in gold (according to Soviet encyclopedia, in the end, several times more was spent). The total cost of construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway from 1891 to 1916 amounted to 1.5 billion rubles.
Train traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railway began on October 21 (November 3), 1901, after the “golden link” was laid on the last section of the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER). Regular railway communication between the capital of the empire, St. Petersburg, and the Pacific ports of Vladivostok and Port Arthur was established on July 1 (14), 1903, although trains had to be transported across Baikal on a special ferry.
A continuous rail track between St. Petersburg and Vladivostok appeared after the start of working traffic on the Circum-Baikal Railway on September 18 (October 1), 1904, and a year later, on October 16 (29), 1905, the Circum-Baikal Road, as a section of the Great Siberian Road, was accepted as permanent operation, and for the first time in history, trains were able to travel only on rails, without the use of ferries, from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Construction was carried out only at the expense of the state’s own funds without attracting foreign capital. At the beginning of construction, 9,600 people were involved, by 1896 there were already about 80,000 people. An average of 650 km of railway tracks were built annually; as of 1903, more than 12 million sleepers and 1 million tons of rails were laid; the total length of railway bridges and tunnels built was more than 100 km.
Scheme of the modern Trans-Siberian Railway: red – historical route, blue – northern route, green – Baikal-Amur Mainline, black – the interval of the southern route in Siberia
Map of the old Trans-Siberian Railway from the Chinese Eastern Railway (via Manchuria - modern China)
The construction was divided into “segments”, construction stages:
As you can see, the Trans-Siberian Railway was not run from west to east (which is more logical from the point of view of logistics, the supply of rails from the Ural factories), but was divided into sections and the work was carried out almost in parallel. Question: how were the rails transported to the eastern sections of the track? By sea to Vladivostok? How were the rails delivered to the middle sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway? Or did they build embankments and lay sleepers, which then waited in the wings for laying the rails?
But this is only part of the questions. The main issue: the speed of construction. In fact, in 14 years, 7 thousand km of track were laid. This is not only the arrangement of embankments and roadbeds, but also countless culverts and bridges over large and small rivers.
I propose to compare this volume of work with an almost modern construction project of a similar scale:
(BAM)
The main route Taishet - Sovetskaya Gavan was built with long interruptions from 1938 to 1984. The construction of the central part of the railway, which took place in difficult geological and climatic conditions, took more than 12 years, and one of the most difficult sections: the Severomuysky tunnel was put into permanent operation only in 2003.
The BAM is almost 500 km shorter than the Trans-Siberian Railway on the section from Taishet to the seaport of Vanino. The length of the main route Taishet - Sovetskaya Gavan is 4287 km. The BAM runs north of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In April 1974, BAM was declared an all-Union Komsomol shock construction site. In fact, this is the year that large-scale construction began.
Summarizing the figures, it turns out: the Trans-Siberian Railway, with a length of 7 thousand km, using only manual labor, carts and trolleys, took 14 years to build. And the BAM, with a length of just over 4 thousand km, after almost 100 years, with all the mechanization in the form of excavators, dump trucks, and mining equipment - 11 years!
Would you say the difference is in the economic systems, the approach to construction, the difference in the number of people involved in construction? The Trans-Siberian Railway was built by convicts, and the BAM - by enthusiastic Komsomol members. And the BAM passes through more inaccessible mountain areas. It is possible, but such a difference in timing, with a difference in the length of the tracks by a factor of two and with a technological gap, is difficult to explain.
With these lines, I do not want to cast doubt on the feat of the people of those years, our ancestors. In any case, this remains a great construction project in Russia of those times. But more and more often there are versions that the Trans-Siberian Railway was not so much built as it was restored. Only bridges over rivers and some sections of the road were built. For the most part, it was put in order, or simply dug up. And there is reason to think so.
Look at these photographs of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway (1910-1914. Album of views of the construction of the middle part of the Amur Railway):
197 versts. Quarry development by teams of exiled convicts
197 versts. Development of excavations by teams of exiled convicts
It looks like the road is being dug up. But if we judge this photograph from an official point of view, it is possible that a railway track was laid at the edge of a steep wall made of soil. When workers shoveled soil, it spilled onto the canvas and covered the sleepers. The result was a visible effect that the road was being dug up.
Another interesting fact:
An old railway track was found in Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk archaeologists, while conducting excavations at the construction site of a bridge across the Yenisei, discovered a section of the railway laid in the 1890s. The discovery came as a surprise for several reasons. Firstly, because of its scale: scientists often find small fragments of old railway tracks - rails, sleepers, crutches, but this is the first time that a 100-meter road has been discovered.
Secondly, the railway line was hidden deep underground - under a one and a half meter layer of soil.
The length of the section of the railway track located next to the Trans-Siberian Railway is about 100 meters. Note that archaeologists discovered it under a rather thick layer of soil - more than 1.5 meters deep.
Why weren't the railway tracks reused? At that time of iron deficiency, they were worth their weight in gold. I don’t believe they just took it and buried it. If we compare it with the theme of demolished buildings, the picture emerges as catastrophic. Either all this soil, clay, fell from above (a dusty cosmic cloud, a giant comet?) or water and mud masses emerged from the depths. During earthquakes (I had a note on this mechanism) or during a larger-scale cataclysm.
Another observation:
And Transib is still more than a decade away. There are no reasons to move the capital. Or was he already there? In the 1840s, a certain cataclysm occurred and it was restored at the end of the 19th century. in just 10 years!
The trade and transport route before the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway went through Yeniseisk:
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Another fact in favor of the antiquity of railways. The Trans-Siberian Railway was brought to Lake Baikal, a huge ferry, once brought from England, was launched, transporting trains, only then the Circum-Baikal Railway was built. Couldn't it have been built right away? Most likely, the ancient railway ran along the place where a fault formed and filled with water, which became Baikal (it is not shown in this size on old maps).
Watch about the strangeness of the railway from the 35th minute
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Be sure to watch these videos below! Non-existent railways are shown on 18th century maps:
https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/workspace/handleMediaPlayer?lunaMediaId=RUMSEY~8~1~37173~1210150
Skeptics say that these cards were issued at the end of the 19th century. and it depicts the roads of that time, although the dates of the maps are 1772. Usually, maps depict the state of the territories of the period to which information about routes, cities, and countries relates. Do not apply to ancient maps with previous borders modern ways. Even taking into account the fact that the 1883 map shows railway roads that have not even been built yet.
Mentions of “railroad” (rail – rail) in sources can be traced back centuries to 1600.
Readers have told me that most of the old churches are perhaps ancient railway stations. See for yourself, many railway stations, both before and now, are very similar in their architecture to churches. Dome structures of central buildings, arches, spiers, etc.
I had an article: . It contains videos from Shukach with the version that the Serpentine Shafts are the remains of ancient railway embankments.
And in I showed that the Trans-Siberian Railway, at least near Krasnoyarsk, was double-track. One of the old embankments is now used for modern railway tracks.
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Most likely, there was a period when the entire technically (not technogenically) developed civilization died in some event. That level is approximately described in some of the works of J. Verne. Level of engineering + use of simple technology. Medieval robots, barrel organs, organs, etc. speak about the level of specialists. And without roads and logistics it was impossible to build such a civilization.
1. The longest railway on the planet
The actual length of the Trans-Siberian Railway along the main passenger route is 9288.2 km (approximately 5772 miles). By this indicator, it is the longest on the planet, crossing almost all of Eurasia by land. Tariff length (by which ticket prices are calculated) 
slightly more - 9298 km does not coincide with the real one. The Yaroslavsky railway station in Moscow has been considered the beginning of the Trans-Siberian Railway for about 70 years (photo on the left). The end of the Trans-Siberian Railway on the eastern outskirts of Russia - Vladivostok Station (photo on the right) - is located on the shore of the Zolotoy Rog Bay of the Sea of Japan (the exact route of the highway is given).
2. One continent and two continents
The Trans-Siberian Railway passes through the territory of two continents: Europe (1777 km) and Asia (7512 km) and crosses the mainland 
Eurasia from west to east. Europe accounts for 19.1% of the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Asia – 80.9%. The 1778th km of the Trans-Siberian Railway is accepted as the conventional border between Europe and Asia. There, near the city, when the railway crosses a low pass of the central Ural Mountains, a memorial sign was erected (on the south side of the road, in the photo on the left). It’s called “the border of Europe and Asia.”
3. Through all the vastness of Russia
The Trans-Siberian Railway passes through the territories of 12 regions, 5 territories, 2 republics, 1 autonomous region and 1 district as part of the region: Moscow, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Kirov regions, Udmurt Republic, Perm Territory, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo regions , Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Region, Ust-Orda Buryat District as part of the Irkutsk Region, Buryat Republic, Trans-Baikal Territory, Amur Region, Jewish Autonomous Region, Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories (listed sequentially, from west to east). All of them are located in Russia. If you are lucky, then, driving along the Trans-Siberian Railway, you will be able to see signs or posters recording administrative boundaries (in the photo on the left - this is how the border of the Chita and Amur regions is indicated, 7079 km of road).
4. Along the highway - almost ninety cities
There are 87 cities on the Trans-Siberian Railway: 5 with a population of over 1 million people (Moscow, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk), 9 with a population of 300 thousand to 1 million (Yaroslavl, Kirov, Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita , Khabarovsk, Vladivostok) and 73 cities with a population of less than 300 thousand. The 14 cities through which the Trans-Siberian Railway passes are the centers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and the starting point, Moscow, is the capital of Russia. 46 cities and 3 towns are represented on the Internet. Traces of the presence of the remaining 41 cities on the Internet have not yet been found.
5. Big rivers of Eurasia on our way
On its way, the Trans-Siberian crosses 16 major rivers: , Vyatka, Tobol, , Ussuri. Of these, the Amur is the widest (about 2 km, in the picture on the left), since the highway crosses it in the middle reaches. Large rivers such as the Ob and Yenisei are crossed by railway closer to their upper reaches, so their width at the intersection with the Trans-Siberian Railway is about 1 km. The most dangerous river on the way is the Khor, in the south of the Khabarovsk Territory: during the flood period it can rise by 9 (!) meters. The river that caused the greatest damage to the Trans-Siberian Railway in its entire history should be recognized as the Trans-Baikal River Khilok - during the flood of 1897, it washed away and destroyed most of the western section of the Trans-Baikal railway.
6. A unique lake halfway to the Pacific Ocean
For 207 km, the Trans-Siberian Railway runs along Lake Baikal (on 
picture on the left). This unique, deepest lake in the world (maximum depth 1637 m) is the largest reservoir of fresh water on the planet. The shores and surroundings of Lake Baikal are the most beautiful places where you can enjoy the view of snowy mountains, stunningly clear water and unique natural attractions. 
If you travel by train from the west, then Baikal first opens to our eyes 5276 km after the Andrianovsky Pass (from afar below), and after 28 km (before the Slyudyanka-2 station) the road descends to the lake and comes close to its shore (photo on the right). The train turns east from the shores of Lake Baikal after the Boyarsky station (5499th km), and the last time the sparkle of lake water through the trees can be seen at the 5518th km of the road.
7. Geographical limits
14. The longest tunnels
The longest tunnel is under the Amur, parallel to the Amur Bridge (length 7198 m, the eastern portal is on the left in the photo). 
It was built for strategic reasons in 1937-1942. But, since it is located parallel to the main passage, and the main passage goes along the Amur Bridge, the longest tunnel on the main passenger passage of the Trans-Siberian Railway should be recognized as Tarmanchukansky, built in 1915 (photo on the right). Its length is about 2 km. And it is located at 8140 - 8142 km in the spurs of the Lesser Khingan, between Arkhara and Obluchye. In total, there are 15 tunnels on the main route of the Trans-Siberian Railway, one of which is not currently in use (near Ukurei, a bypass has been built), and another one is only on the even route (“Kirkidai” east of Slyudyanka).
15. The largest station
Most 
a large station was built at the Novosibirsk-Glavny station (3336 km Transsib) in 1940, before the Great Patriotic War. At the time of completion, this station was the largest in the pre-war USSR. It is made in a characteristic “Stalinist” style with a higher central pediment, and its façade facing the railway is much higher than that facing the station square. Other
16. The most “crooked” loops
There are many sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway with a heavy profile and terrain, but among them the most memorable ones can be identified. Probably the Angasol loop on the large descent to Lake Baikal from the west is a record-breaking one in terms of radius of curvature, beauty and length. Its length is about 7 km, and it ends at . It is also the steepest descent on the Trans-Siberian Railway (see above). The Arteushinskaya loop west of Mogocha (pictured on the right) is the second place, length is about 5 km: the railway in both directions runs opposite each other for about 2 km and this loop also ends. Other loops with a small radius of curvature and a length of over 3 km are the Medlyanskaya loop on the descent to Baikal (), the Obluchenskaya and Tarmanchukan loops on the Lesser Khingan, a loop east of Bolshoy Never, two loops east of Erofey Pavlovich, two loops west of Krasnoyarsk - behind the Ovinny station and before Ob-Yenisei watershed.
17. The most intense and high-speed sections
The busiest section in terms of traffic intensity: Omsk - Novosibirsk (in 1985, when the Soviet economy was operating at full capacity, this section was the busiest on the world's railways), it is also one of the fastest and the most dull - just steppe and salt lakes . High-speed (passenger train speeds up to 130-140 km) are also areas located in the West Siberian Lowland: Karbyshevo-1 (west of the Irtysh) – Nazyvaevskaya – Yalutorovsk – Voynovka (before Tyumen); Shartash (station in Yekaterinburg) – Bogdanovich – Tyumen. There are small (up to 200 km) high-speed sections west of Khabarovsk (Birobidzhan - Priamurskaya), in the Amur region (Belogorsk - Zavitaya - Bureya), west of Kirov (Kotelnich-1 - Sharya) and near Moscow (Alexandrov - Yaroslavl-Glavny).
18. The highest embankments and slopes
The absolute record holder in this category was the Balaysky slope, about 100 km east of Krasnoyarsk, the height of the artificial embankment is 34 m. But according to observations, it is no longer there - the railway after reconstruction (either before the First World War, or in the 30s of the 20th century) goes differently. We can mention now the embankments along the valley of the Khilok River (in some places more than 20 m), as well as the embankment in the valley of the Bolshaya Glubokaya River near Glubokaya station (east of Irkutsk). However, I don’t have enough information here, if you know anything, please add it!
19. The pace of construction of the Great Siberian Road
By pace 
The construction of the Great Siberian Way railway (and now the Trans-Siberian Railway) amazed the imagination of contemporaries: in 13 and a half years (from March 1891 to September 1904) a continuous rail track was laid for the movement of trains from Miass in the Southern Urals, west of Chelyabinsk, and Kotlas on the shore Northern Dvina - to Vladivostok and Port Arthur on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. This is all the more significant: after all, the steel gauge of the Trans-Siberian Railway was laid through large rivers, undeveloped areas, passes and areas with permafrost and a heavy profile, and the technical level of construction 100-110 years ago was significantly lower than today. So, about 9,100 versts, or a little less than 10,000 kilometers (taking into account the adjacent branches built at the same time) were laid with an average construction rate of 740 kilometers per year. This is a high figure even for modern construction. The final completion of construction is through Manchuria, taking into account the launch of the Circum-Baikal Railway into permanent operation. and the completion of all bridges and tunnels on the route - took place in October 1905, so we can assume that this transcontinental railway took more than 14 years to build; and the average pace of construction, taking into account all engineering structures, was approximately 670 kilometers (630 versts) per year.
In just a quarter of a century of construction of the Great Siberian Railway, 12,120 versts of rail track were laid (including the CER, South Manchurian Line, sections Miass - Chelyabinsk, Perm - Yekaterinburg, Vyatka - Kotlas and all secondary branches), 3,465 versts of the main track were straightened and strengthened and second tracks were built over a distance of 3,655 versts.
20. Cost of construction of the Great Siberian Way
The cost of laying a continuous rail track from the Urals and Northern Dvina to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in 1891 - 1905. amounted to almost a billion (more precisely, about 936 million) gold rubles allocated from the treasury of the Russian Empire. Subsequently, before the outbreak of the First World War, it was necessary to spend even more than half a billion (almost 519 million) rubles on the construction of a railway on its own territory (Amur Line), on laying second tracks, straightening and strengthening the main course of the Siberian and Ussuri railways. In total, the cost of building the Trans-Siberian Railway for Russia was in 1891 – 1913. almost one and a half billion rubles.
21. Rate and length of road electrification
As of January 1, 2003, the Trans-Siberian Railway is also the longest continuously electrified railway in the world: a train driven by an electric locomotive can travel from Moscow to Vladivostok, or 9,289 km. But there are different electrified sections along the way - on alternating and DC. Therefore, theoretically, one electric locomotive (alternating current) can travel from Mariinsk in Western Siberia to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast, or 5576 km. The Trans-Siberian Railway is also unique in terms of the pace of electrification: in 1960, 947 km of the main route were electrified.
22. The world's only marble station
The only station in the world built entirely of marble: Slyudyanka-1 
(pictured left). It was built in 1904 as a monument crowning the grandiose work of the builders and completing the construction of the unique Circum-Baikal Railway. It has been preserved to this day almost in its original form. This station is located near the shore of Lake Baikal (5311th km of the Trans-Siberian Railway).
(C) Sergey Sigachev
The Trans-Siberian Railway, formerly called the Great Siberian Railway, today surpasses all railway lines on earth. It was built from 1891 to 1916, that is, almost a quarter of a century. Its length is just under 10,000 km. The direction of the road is Moscow-Vladivostok. These are the starting and ending points for trains traveling along it. That is, the beginning of the Trans-Siberian Railway is Moscow, and the end is Vladivostok. Naturally, trains travel in both directions.
Why was the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway necessary?
Giant regions of the Far East, Eastern and at the beginning of the 20th century remained isolated from the rest of Russian Empire. That is why there is an urgent need to create a road along which one could get there with minimal cost and time. It was necessary to build railway lines through Siberia. The governor-general of all Eastern Siberia, in 1857, officially voiced the question of construction on the Siberian outskirts.
Who financed the project?
Only in the 1980s did the government allow the construction of the road. At the same time, it agreed to finance the construction independently, without the support of foreign sponsors. The construction of the highway required colossal investments. Its cost, according to preliminary calculations carried out by the Committee for the Construction of the Siberian Railway, amounted to 350 million rubles in gold.
First works
A special expedition, led by A. I. Ursati, O. P. Vyazemsky and N. P. Mezheninov, was sent in 1887 in order to outline the optimal location of the route for the railway.
The most intractable and pressing problem was the provision of construction. The solution was to send an “army of permanent labor reserve” to do compulsory work. Soldiers and prisoners made up the majority of the builders. The living conditions in which they worked were unbearably difficult. The workers were housed in dirty, cramped barracks that didn’t even have a floor. The sanitary conditions, of course, left much to be desired.
How was the road built?
All work was done manually. The most primitive tools were a shovel, a saw, an axe, a wheelbarrow and a pick. Despite all the inconveniences, approximately 500-600 km of track were laid annually. Carrying out a grueling daily struggle with the forces of nature, engineers and construction workers coped with the task of constructing the Great Siberian Route in a short time.
Creation of the Great Siberian Route
By the 90s, the South Ussuri, Transbaikal and Central Siberian railways were practically completed. The Committee of Ministers in 1891, in February, decided that it was already possible to begin work on the creation of the Great Siberian Route.
It was planned to build the highway in three stages. The first is the West Siberian Road. The next one is Transbaikal, from Mysovaya to Sretensk. And the last stage is the Circum-Baikal, from Irkutsk to Khabarovsk.
Construction of the route began simultaneously from the two terminal points. The western branch reached Irkutsk in 1898. At that time, passengers here had to transfer to a ferry, covering 65 kilometers along Lake Baikal. When it was covered in ice, the icebreaker made a way for the ferry. This colossus, weighing 4267 tons, was made to order in England. Gradually, the rails ran along the southern shore of Lake Baikal, and the need for it disappeared.
Difficulties during the construction of the highway
The construction of the highway took place in harsh climatic and natural conditions. The route was laid along almost its entire length through deserted or sparsely populated areas, in impassable taiga. The Trans-Siberian Railway crossed numerous lakes, mighty rivers of Siberia, areas of permafrost and high swampiness. For builders, the site located around Lake Baikal presented exceptional difficulties. In order to build a road here, it was necessary to blow up rocks and also erect artificial structures.
Natural conditions did not contribute to the construction of such a large-scale project as the Trans-Siberian Railway. In the places where it was built, up to 90% of the annual precipitation fell during the two summer months. Within a few hours of rain, the streams turned into mighty streams of water. Large areas of fields were flooded with water in areas where the Trans-Siberian Railway is located. Natural conditions made its construction very difficult. The flood did not begin in the spring, but in August or July. Up to 10-12 strong rises of water occurred over the summer. Also, the work was carried out in winter, when frosts reached -50 degrees. People kept warm in tents. Naturally, they often got sick.
In the mid-50s, a new line was laid - from Abakan to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. It is located parallel to the main highway. For strategic reasons, this line was located much further north, at a sufficient distance from the Chinese border.
Flood of 1897
A catastrophic flood occurred in 1897. For more than 200 years there was no equal to him. A powerful stream more than 3 meters high demolished the built embankments. The flood destroyed the city of Dorodinsk, which was founded in the early 18th century. Because of this, it was necessary to significantly adjust the original project according to which the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was carried out: the route had to be moved to new places, protective structures had to be built, embankments had to be raised, and slopes had to be strengthened. Builders encountered permafrost here for the first time.
In 1900, the Transbaikal Railway began operating. And at Mozgon station in 1907, the world’s first building was built on permafrost, which still exists today. In Greenland, Canada and Alaska they adopted new method construction of facilities on permafrost.
Location of the road, city of the Trans-Siberian Railway
The next journey is taken by a train departing along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The road follows the direction Moscow-Vladivostok. A train departs from the capital, crosses the Volga, and then turns towards the Urals to the southeast, where approximately 1800 km from Moscow it passes from Yekaterinburg, a large industrial center located in the Urals, on the way to Novosibirsk and Omsk. Through the Ob, one of the most powerful rivers in Siberia with intensive shipping, the train travels further to Krasnoyarsk, located on the Yenisei. After this, the Trans-Siberian Railway follows to Irkutsk, along the southern shore of Lake Baikal and overcomes the mountain range. Having cut off one of the corners of the Gobi Desert and passing Khabarovsk, the train departs for its final destination - Vladivostok. This is the direction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
87 cities are located on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Their population ranges from 300 thousand to 15 million people. The centers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are 14 cities through which the Trans-Siberian Railway passes.
In the regions it serves, coal is mined in a volume of more than 65% of everything produced in Russia, and approximately 20% of oil refining and 25% of commercial timber production are carried out. About 80% of natural resource deposits are located here, including timber, coal, gas, oil, as well as non-ferrous and ferrous metal ores.
Through the border stations of Naushki, Zabaikalsk, Grodekovo, Khasan in the east, the Trans-Siberian Railway provides access to the road network of Mongolia, China and North Korea, and in the west, through border crossings with the former republics of the USSR and Russian ports, to European countries.
Features of the Transsib
The two parts of the world (Asia and Europe) were connected by the longest railway on earth. The track here, as on all other roads in our country, is wider than the European one. It is 1.5 meters.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is divided into several sections:
Amur road;
Circum-Baikal;
Manchurian;
Zabaikalskaya;
Central Siberian;
West Siberian;
Ussuriyskaya.
Description of road sections
The Ussuriysk road, the length of which is 769 km, and the number of points on its route is 39, came into permanent operation in November 1897. It was the first railway in the Far East.
In 1892, in June, construction of the West Siberian began. Apart from the watershed between the Irtysh and Ishim, it passes through flat terrain. Only near bridges over large rivers does it rise up. The route deviates from the straight line only to bypass ravines, reservoirs, and cross rivers.
In 1898, in January, construction of the Central Siberian Road began. Along its length there are bridges across the Uda, Iya, and Tom. L. D. Proskuryakov designed a unique bridge passing through the Yenisei.
Transbaikalskaya is part of the Great Siberian Railway. It starts on Lake Baikal, from Mysovaya station, and ends on the Amur, at the Sretensk pier. The route runs along the shores of Lake Baikal and there are many mountain rivers on its way. In 1895, construction of the road began under the leadership of A. N. Pushechnikov, an engineer.
After the signing of the agreement between China and Russia, the development of the Trans-Siberian Railway continued with the construction of another road, the Manchurian Railway, connecting the Siberian Railway with Vladivostok. Through traffic from Chelyabinsk to Vladivostok was allowed to open this route, the length of which is 6503 km.
The construction of the Circum-Baikal section began last (since it was the most expensive and difficult area. Engineer Liverovsky headed the construction of its most difficult section between capes Sharazhangai and Aslomov. The length of the mainline is the 18th part of the total length of the entire railway. A quarter of the total costs were required its construction. The train passes through 12 tunnels and 4 galleries along this route.
The Amur road began to be built in 1906. It is divided into the East Amur and North Amur lines.
The meaning of Transsib
The great achievement of our people was the creation of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway took place on humiliation, blood and bones, but the workers still completed this great work. This road made it possible to transport a huge amount of cargo and passengers across the country. Deserted Siberian territories were populated thanks to its construction. The direction of the Trans-Siberian Railway contributed to their economic development.
- (Great Siberian Railway), railway. d. line Chelyabinsk Omsk Irkutsk Khabarovsk Vladivostok (approx. 7 thousand km), connects the European part of Russia with Siberia and Far East. Built 1891 1916; electrified over a significant extent.... ...Russian history
- (Great Siberian Railway) railway line Chelyabinsk Omsk Irkutsk Khabarovsk Vladivostok (approx. 7 thousand km), connects the European part of Russia with Siberia and the Far East. Built in 1891 1916 ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Trans-Siberian Railway- (Trans Siberian Railway), a railway that facilitated the development of Siberia and Russia’s penetration into the East. Asia. The page began with money received from the French. loan in 1891, and was practically completed in 1904. The concern it caused in Japan... ... World history
The Great Siberian Railway, the railway line Chelyabinsk Omsk Irkutsk Khabarovsk Vladivostok (about 7 thousand km), connects the European part of Russia with Siberia and the Far East. Built in 1891 1916. * * * TRANSSIBERIAN HIGHWAY... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary
Trans-Siberian Railway- Trans-Siberian Railway, Great Siberian Railway, the largest transcontinental double-track railway connecting central areas countries with Siberia and the Far East (Moscow Ryazan Syzran … … Dictionary "Geography of Russia"
Trans-Siberian Railway- The world's largest transcontinental railway with a total length of 9332 km (in the Amur region the length is 1104 km). It connects countries with the Far East, passing through the whole of Siberia, which determined its name: Latin... ... Toponymic Dictionary of the Amur Region
Trans-Siberian Railway- Russia. The world's largest transcontinental railway with a total length of 9332 km. It connects countries with the Far East, passing through the whole of Siberia, which determined its name: Latin trans - “through, through”... Geographical names Far East of Russia
Transcontinental railway d., double track throughout. Connects the European part of Russia with Siberia and the Far East along the route: Moscow - Ryazan - Syzran - Samara - ... Geographical encyclopedia
Trans-Siberian Railway- Trans-Siberian Master al... Russian spelling dictionary
Trans-Siberian Railway - … Spelling dictionary of the Russian language
Books
- Trans-Siberian Railway. The history of the creation of the Russian railway network, Volmar Christian. The book of the famous British journalist Christian Volmar "The Trans-Siberian Railway. The history of the creation of the Russian railway network", the author of over a dozen various publications in the field of…
- Trans-Siberian Railway The history of the creation of the Russian railway network, Volmar K.. The book of the famous British journalist Christian Volmar "The Trans-Siberian Railway. The history of the creation of the Russian railway network", the author of over a dozen various publications in the field of...
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