Trans-Siberian Railway

External video
External video
on RT Documentary Official YouTube Channel(in English)
	Trans-Siberian Odyssey (Trailer) on YouTube
	Sad holiday parting & bumpy start – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E1) on YouTube
	Irate passengers, strange guests & holiday cheer – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E2) on YouTube
	Father Frost and a Snowmaiden pay the train a visit – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E3) on YouTube
	Father Frost and a Snowmaiden pay the train a visit – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E4) on YouTube
	Cabin fever, Christmas carols, and a concerning call – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E5) on YouTube
	Bargains in Russia’s Far East & short circuit in a freight car – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E6) on YouTube
	Food poisoning on board & a tough decision – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E7) on YouTube
	Raw nerves, ruined rendezvous, and a tragedy dodged – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E8) on YouTube
	A joyous arrival & nervous reunion – Trans-Siberian Odyssey (E9) on YouTube

Trans-Siberian Railway
Trans-Siberian Railway
	Trans-Siberian Railway on the coast of Lake Baikal
Overview
Native name	Транссибирская магистраль
Status	Operational
Owner	Russian Railways
Locale	Russia
Termini	Moscow Yaroslavsky; Vladivostok
Service
Type	Regional rail; Commuter rail; Freight rail;
System	Far Eastern Railway; East Siberian Railway; West Siberian Railway; Krasnoyarsk Railway; Sverdlovsk Railway; Trans–Baikal Railway;
Operator(s)	Russian Railways
History
Commenced	9 March 1891
Opened	21 June 1904
Completed	21 June 1904
Technical
Line length	9,289 km (5,772 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Character	Long-haul route
Track gauge	1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) Russian gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line
Route map
	Legend
	0 km
	0 mi
	Yaroslavsky
	Terminal
	59 km
	37 mi
	73 km
	45 mi
	Moscow Oblast
	Vladimir Oblast
	112 km
	70 mi
	130 km
	81 mi
	Vladimir Oblast
	Yaroslavl Oblast
	145 km
	90 mi
	165 km
	103 mi
	191 km
	119 mi
	200 km
	124 mi
	210 km
	130 mi
	224 km
	139 mi
	239 km
	149 mi
	262 km
	163 mi
	281 km
	175 mi
Yaroslavl
	284 km
	176 mi
	289 km
	180 mi
	356 km
	221 mi
	394 km
	245 mi
	Yaroslavl Oblast
	Kostroma Oblast
	450 km
	280 mi
	501 km
	311 mi
	651 km
	405 mi
	698 km
	434 mi
	Kostroma Oblast
	Kirov Oblast
	818 km
	508 mi
	870 km
	541 mi
	957 km
	595 mi
Kirov
	975 km
	606 mi
	995 km
	618 mi
	1052 km
	654 mi
	1127 km
	700 mi
	Kirov Oblast
	Udmurtia
	1165 km
	724 mi
	to Solkamsk, Serov, Demyanka & Surgut
	(with 25 kV 50 Hz AC electrification)
	1194 km
	742 mi

The Trans–Siberian Railway (TSR) (Russian: Транссибирская магистраль, tr. Transsibirskaya magistral', IPA: [trənsʲsʲɪˈbʲirskəjə məgʲɪˈstralʲ]) is a network of railways connecting Western Russia to the Russian Far East.^[1] It is the longest railway line in the world,^[2] with a length of over 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles), starting from the capital Moscow, the largest city in Europe, and ending at Vladivostok, close to the North Korea–Russia border.

Russian Empire government ministers personally appointed by the Emperor Alexander III of Russia and by his son, the Tsarevich Nicholas (later Emperor Nicholas II from 1894), supervised the building of the railway between 1891 and 1916. Even before its completion, the line attracted travelers who wrote of their adventures.^[3] The Trans-Siberian Railway has directly connected Moscow with Vladivostok since 1916. Expansion of the railway system continues as of 2020^[update],^[4] with connecting rails going into Asia, namely Mongolia, China and North Korea.^[5] There are also plans to connect Tokyo, the capital of Japan, to the railway.^[5]

Route description[edit]

Trans-Siberian line in red; Baikal–Amur Mainline in green (interactive map)

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),^[6] it spans a record eight time zones.^[7] 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 (6,380 mi)^[8] and the Kyiv–Vladivostok 11,085 kilometres (6,888 mi)^[9] 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 or Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, 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 12 km (7 mi) east of Karymskoye, in Chita Oblast), about 1,000 km (621 mi) 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

History[edit]

Demand and design[edit]

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.^[10] 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.^[11] 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. With financial support provided by leading European financier, Baron Henri Hottinguer of the Parisian Hottinguer family of bankers, the total cost estimated at £35 million was raised with the first section (Chelyabinsk to the River Ob) was finished at a cost £900,000 less than the estimate.^[12] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 70 km (43 mi) 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.^{[citation needed]}

Construction[edit]

Clearing on the right-of-way of the Eastern Siberian Railway, 1895

Construction work being performed by convicts on the Eastern Siberian Railway near Khabarovsk, 1895

On 9 March 1891, the Russian government issued an imperial rescript in which it announced its intention to construct a railway across Siberia.^[13] Tsarevich Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II) inaugurated the construction of the railway in Vladivostok on 19 May that year.^[14]

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 Baikal built in 1897 and smaller ferry SS Angara built in about 1900 made the four-hour crossing to link the two railheads.^[15]^[16]

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.^[16] Their boilers, engines and some other components were built in Saint Petersburg^[16] and transported to Listvyanka to be installed. Baikal had 15 boilers, four funnels, and was 64 metres (210 ft) long. it could carry 24 railway coaches and one locomotive on the middle deck. Angara was smaller, with two funnels.^[15]^[16]

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^[15]^[16] but Angara survives. It has been restored and is permanently moored at Irkutsk where it serves as an office and a museum.^[15]

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.^[17]

Effects[edit]

Siberian peasants watching a train at a station, 1902

Siberian agriculture began to send cheap grain westwards beginning around 1869.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[18] 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.^[19] Between 1906 and 1914, the peak migration years, about 4 million peasants arrived in Siberia.^[20] 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[edit]

Trans-Siberian Railway, c. 1904

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 forces 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.^[21]

There was traveling the leader of legions professor Thomas Garrigue Masaryk from Moscow to Vladivostok in March and August 1918, on his journey to Japan and United States of America.^[22] 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.^[23] 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[edit]

During World War II, the Trans-Siberian Railway played an important role in the supply of the powers fighting in Europe. In 1939, the USSR signed a 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).^{[citation needed]}

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 Germany, 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.^[24]

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.^[25] 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 took the TSR to Vladivostok, then by ship to US.^{[citation needed]} Until June 1941, pro-Nazi ethnic Germans from the Americas used the TSR to go to Germany.^[26]

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 and later large oceanic submarines to evade the Allied blockade. On the other hand, the USSR received Lend-Lease supplies from the US. Even after Japan went to war with the US, despite German complaints, Japan usually allowed Soviet ships to sail between the US and Vladivostok unmolested.^[27] As a result, the Pacific Route – via northern Pacific Ocean and the TSR – became the safest connection between the US and the USSR.^{[citation needed]}

Accordingly, it accounted for as much freight as the North Atlantic–Arctic and Iranian routes combined, though cargoes were limited to raw materials and non-military goods. From 1941–42 the TSR also played an important role in relocating Soviet industries from European Russia to Siberia in the face of the German invasion.

The TSR 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, Stavka 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.^[28]

Today[edit]

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.

The Trans-Siberian is a vital link to the Russian Far East.

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.^[29]

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^[30] and typical cargo transit time from Japan to major destinations in European Russia was reported as around 25 days.^[31]

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 900 km (559 mi) per day, at a maximum operating speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). 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 9,000 km (5,592 mi) distance in just seven days. The plan will involve increasing the cargo trains' speed to 90 km/h (56 mph) in 2010–12, and, at least on some sections, to 100 km/h (62 mph) by 2015. At these speeds, goods trains will be able to cover 1,500 km (932 mi) per day.^[32]

Developments in shipping[edit]

On 11 January 2008, China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany agreed to collaborate on a cargo train service between Beijing and Hamburg.^[33]

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.^[34]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Trans-Siberian route in 7 days[edit]

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^{[needs update]}. The length of the routes is about 10,000 km (6,200 mi). The speed of delivery via the block trains should increase from 900 km (560 mi) per day in 2008 to 1,500 km (930 mi) per day in 2015. The first accelerated experimental block-train was launched in February 2009 from Vladivostok to Moscow. The length of the route was about 9,300 km (5,800 mi), 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 (801 mi) per day. The maximum route speed of the train was 1,422 km (884 mi) per day.

Gallery[edit]

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 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 (mile 5,771.3) at the end of the Trans-Siberian Railway at Vladivostok railway station
Bridge over the Kama River, near Perm, built in 1912

Routes[edit]

Trans-Siberian line[edit]

A commonly used main line route is as follows. Distances and travel times are from the schedule of train No. 002M, Moscow–Vladivostok.^[6]

Location	Distance	Travel Time	Time Zone	Notes
Moscow, Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal	0 km (0 mi)		Moscow Time (MT)
Vladimir	210 km (130 mi)		MT
Nizhny Novgorod	461 km (286 mi)	6 hours	MT	on the Volga River
Kirov	917 km (570 mi)	13 hours	MT	on the Vyatka River
Perm	1,397 km (868 mi)	20 hours	MT+2	on the Kama River
Yekaterinburg	1,816 km (1,128 mi)	1 day 2 hours	MT+2	in the Urals, still called by its old Soviet name Sverdlovsk in most timetables
Tyumen	2,104 km (1,307 mi)
Omsk	2,676 km (1,663 mi)	1 day 14 hours	MT+3	on the Irtysh River
Novosibirsk	3,303 km (2,052 mi)	1 day 22 hours	MT+3	on the Ob River; Turk-Sib railway branches from here
Krasnoyarsk	4,065 km (2,526 mi)	2 days 11 hours	MT+4	on the Yenisei River
Taishet	4,483 km (2,786 mi)			junction with the Baikal-Amur Mainline
Irkutsk	5,153 km (3,202 mi)	3 days 4 hours	MT+5	near Lake Baikal's southern extremity
Ulan Ude	5,609 km (3,485 mi)	3 days 12 hours	MT+5	eastern shore of Lake Baikal
Junction with the Trans-Mongolian line	5,622 km (3,493 mi)
Chita	6,166 km (3,831 mi)	3 days 22 hours	MT+6
Junction with the Trans-Manchurian line at Tarskaya	6,274 km (3,898 mi)
Birobidzhan	8,312 km (5,165 mi)	5 days 13 hours		capital of the Jewish Autonomous Region
Khabarovsk	8,493 km (5,277 mi)	5 days 15 hours	MT+7	on the Amur River
Ussuriysk	9,147 km (5,684 mi)			junction with the Trans-Manchurian line and Korea branch; located in Baranovsky, 13 km (8 miles) from Ussuriysk
Vladivostok	9,289 km (5,772 mi)	6 days 4 hours	MT+7	on the Pacific Ocean
Services to North Korea continue from Ussuriysk via:
Primorskaya station	9,257 km (5,752 mi)	6 days 14 hours	MT+7
Khasan	9,407 km (5,845 mi)	6 days 19 hours	MT+7	border with North Korea
Tumangang	9,412 km (5,848 mi)	7 days 10 hours	MT+6	North Korean side of the border
Pyongyang	10,267 km (6,380 mi)	9 days 2 hours	MT+6

There are many alternative routings between Moscow and Siberia. For example:

Circum-Baikal Railway

Some trains would leave Moscow from Kazansky Rail Terminal instead of Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal; this would save some 20 km (12 mi) 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 29 km (18 mi) to the distances from Moscow, making the total distance to Vladivostok at 9,288 km (5,771 mi).
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 (a few dozen miles).

Trans-Manchurian line[edit]

The Trans-Manchurian line, as e.g. used by train No.020, Moscow–Beijing^[35] 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 (6,274 km (3,898 mi) from Moscow)
Zabaikalsk (6,626 km (4,117 mi)), Russian border town; there is a break-of-gauge
Manzhouli (6,638 km (4,125 mi) from Moscow, 2,323 km (1,443 mi) from Beijing), Chinese border city
Harbin (7,573 km (4,706 mi), 1,388 km) Chinese city
Changchun (7,820 km (4,859 mi) from Moscow) Chinese city
Beijing (8,961 km (5,568 mi) from Moscow) the Chinese capital

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).^{[citation needed]}

Such an itinerary would pass through the following points from Harbin east:

Harbin (7,573 km (4,706 mi) from Moscow)
Mudanjiang (7,928 km (4,926 mi))
Suifenhe (8,121 km (5,046 mi)), the Chinese border station
Grodekovo (8,147 km (5,062 mi)), Russia
Ussuriysk (8,244 km (5,123 mi))
Vladivostok (8,356 km (5,192 mi))

Trans-Mongolian line[edit]

Trans-Mongolian Railway

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 (5,655 km (3,514 mi) from Moscow)
Naushki (5,895 km (3,663 mi), MT+5), Russian border town
Russian–Mongolian border (5,900 km (3,666 mi), MT+5)
Sükhbaatar (5,921 km (3,679 mi), MT+5), Mongolian border town
Ulaanbaatar (6,304 km (3,917 mi), MT+5), the Mongolian capital
Zamyn-Üüd (7,013 km (4,358 mi), MT+5), Mongolian border city
Erenhot (842 km (523 mi) from Beijing, MT+5), Chinese border city
Datong (371 km (231 mi), MT+5) Chinese city
Beijing (MT+5) the Chinese capital

Proposed routes[edit]

Tayshet
diversion line

Legend

Trans-Siberian Railway
to Krasnoyarsk

Yurty

Trans-Siberian Railway
to Tayshet

Staly Akulshet

Trans-Siberian Railway
to Tayshet

Kostomarovo

Trans-Siberian Railway
to Lena and Severobaykalsk

Proposed platform heights by routes[edit]

High platform line

Moscow-Kazanskaya – Ryazan – Samara – Ufa – Chelyabinsk – Kurgan route should be 1,100 mm (43.3 in) for DC EMUs and 550 mm (21.7 in) for the other trains.

Low platform lines

Trans-Siberian lines except high platform line (see above) should be 200 mm (7.9 in) for most platforms and 550 mm (21.7 in) for some platforms.

References[edit]

^ "Lonely Planet Guide to the Trans-Siberian Railway" (PDF). Lonely Planet Publications. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2012.
^ Thomas, Bryn; McCrohan, Daniel (2019). Trans-Siberian Handbook: The Guide to the World's Longest Railway Journey with 90 Maps and Guides to the Route, Cities and Towns in Russia, Mongolia and China (10 ed.). Trailblazer Publications. ISBN 978-1912716081. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
^ Meakin, Annette, A Ribbon of Iron (1901), reprinted in 1970 as part of the Russia Observed series (Arno Press/New York Times)(OCLC 118166).
^ "New 8,400 mile train journey will connect London to Toyko". The Independent. 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
^ ^a ^b "Russia offers a bridge across history to connect Tokyo to the Trans-Siberian railway". siberiantimes.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
^ ^a ^b "CIS railway timetable, route No. 002, Moscow-Vladivostok". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009.
^ Moscow is at UTC+3, Vladivostok is at UTC+10; therefore the line passes through 8 time zones; see map
^ "CIS railway timetable, route No. 002, Moscow-Pyongyang". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009.
^ "CIS railway timetable, route No. 350, Kiev-Vladivostok". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009.
^ Alexeev, V.V.; Bandman, M.K.; Kuleshov–Novosibirsk, V. V., eds. (2002). Problem Regions of Resource Type: Economical Integration of European North-East, Ural and Siberia. IEIE. ISBN 5-89665-060-4.
^ March, G. Patrick (1996). Eastern Destiny: Russia in Asia and the North Pacific. Praeger/Greenwood. pp. 152–53. ISBN 0-275-95648-2.
^ "The Great Siberian Iron Road", The Daily News (London), 30 December 1896, p. 7.
^ Davis, Clarence B.; Wilburn, Kenneth E. Jr; Robinson, Ronald E. (1991). "Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Eastern Railway". Railway Imperialism. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0313259661. Retrieved 24 July 2015 – via Questia.
^ Pleshakov, Constantine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima. New York: Basic Books. p. 10. ISBN 0465057926. Retrieved 3 October 2015 – via Questia.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Irkutsk: Ice-Breaker "Angara"". Lake Baikal Travel Company. Lake Baikal Travel Company. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Babanine, Fedor (2003). "Circumbaikal Railway". Lake Baikal Homepage. Fedor Babanine. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
^ "Russia's legendary Trans-Siberian railroad line completely electrified". Associated Press. 25 December 2002. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
^ Храмков, А.А. (2001). "Железнодорожные перевозки хлеба из Сибири в западном направлении в конце XIX – начале XX вв" [Railroad transportation of bread from Siberia westwards in the late 19th–early 20th centuries]. Предприниматели и предпринимательство в Сибири. Вып.3 [Entrepreneurs and business undertakings in Siberia. 3rd issue]. Барнаул: Изд-во АГУ. ISBN 5-7904-0195-3. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-07-01.
^ Subtelny, Orest (2000). Ukraine: a history. University of Toronto Press. p. 262. ISBN 0-8020-8390-0.
^ Dronin, N.M.; Bellinger, E.G. (2005). Climate dependence and food problems in Russia, 1900–1990: the interaction of climate and agricultural policy and their effect on food problems. Central European University Press. p. 38. ISBN 963-7326-10-3.
^ Isitt, Benjamin (2006). "Mutiny from Victoria to Vladivostok, December 1918". Canadian Historical Review. 87 (2): 223–64. doi:10.3138/chr/87.2.223. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
^ Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, ISBN 978-80-87173-47-3, pp. 38–50, 52–102, 104–22, 124–28, 140–48, 184–90
^ Willmott, H.P. (2003). First World War. Dorling Kindersley. p. 251.^{[ISBN missing]}
^ Martin, Bernd (1969), Deutschland und Japan Im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Musterschmidt Verlag, p. 155
^ Lowenstein, Jonathan (26 April 2010). "The Journey of a Lifetime: my grandmother's escape on the Trans-Siberian railway". Telaviv1.
^ "German Intelligence Activities in China during WW I." United States War Department Strategic Services Unit, March 1, 1946
^ Martin 1969, p. 174
^ Glantz, David M. (1995). When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Kansas: University Press of Kansas. p. 278. ISBN 0-7006-0899-0.
^ "Transsiberian Railway (from Russian Railways official website)". Eng.rzd.ru. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
^ Donahue, Patrick (24 January 2008). "China-to-Germany Cargo Train Completes Trial Run in 15 Days". Bloomberg.com.
^ Kachi, Hiroyuki (20 July 2007). "Mitsui talking to Russian railway operator on trans-Siberian freight service". MarketWatch.com.
^ "Trans-Siberian in seven days". Railway Gazette International. 5 May 2009.
^ "Beijing to Hamburg fast cargo rail link planned". The China Post. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
^ "Chapter 4: Freight Rates" (PDF). Review of Maritime Transport. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: 89. 2010. ISSN 0566-7682. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
^ "CIS railway timetable, route No. 020, Moscow-Beijing". Archived from the original on December 3, 2009.

External links[edit]

Media related to Trans-Siberian railway at Wikimedia Commons
Trans-Siberian Railway travel guide from Wikivoyage
Trans-Siberian Railway, national geographic expeditions
Trans-Siberian Railway: a view from Moscow to Vladivostok – a photo essay (27 December 2016), The Guardian. Photographs of "life on board the Trans-Siberian Railway, and beyond the carriage window."
Russian Railways official website
Overview of passenger travel today
"A 1903 map of Trans-Siberian railway".
Guide to the Great Siberian Railway (1900)
Mikhailoff, M. (May 1900). "The Great Siberian Railway" . the North American Review. 170 (522).
Manley, Deborah, ed. (2009). The Trans-Siberian Railway: A Traveller's Anthology. ISBN 978-1-904955-49-8. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012.
Winchester, Clarence, ed. (1936), "The Trans-Siberian Express", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 451–57 illustrated description of the route and the train
Trans-Siberian Train № 1 "Russia". Depart Fast Train on YouTube

[1] "Lonely Planet Guide to the Trans-Siberian Railway" (PDF). Lonely Planet Publications. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2012.

[2] Thomas, Bryn; McCrohan, Daniel (2019). Trans-Siberian Handbook: The Guide to the World's Longest Railway Journey with 90 Maps and Guides to the Route, Cities and Towns in Russia, Mongolia and China (10 ed.). Trailblazer Publications. ISBN 978-1912716081. Retrieved 15 October 2020.

[3] Meakin, Annette, A Ribbon of Iron (1901), reprinted in 1970 as part of the Russia Observed series (Arno Press/New York Times)(OCLC 118166).

[4] "New 8,400 mile train journey will connect London to Toyko". The Independent. 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2020-11-11.

[Asia-5] "Russia offers a bridge across history to connect Tokyo to the Trans-Siberian railway". siberiantimes.com. Retrieved 2020-11-11.

[MoscowVlad-6] "CIS railway timetable, route No. 002, Moscow-Vladivostok". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009.

[7] Moscow is at UTC+3, Vladivostok is at UTC+10; therefore the line passes through 8 time zones; see map

[8] "CIS railway timetable, route No. 002, Moscow-Pyongyang". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009.

[9] "CIS railway timetable, route No. 350, Kiev-Vladivostok". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009.

[problemregions-10] Alexeev, V.V.; Bandman, M.K.; Kuleshov–Novosibirsk, V. V., eds. (2002). Problem Regions of Resource Type: Economical Integration of European North-East, Ural and Siberia. IEIE. ISBN 5-89665-060-4.

[11] March, G. Patrick (1996). Eastern Destiny: Russia in Asia and the North Pacific. Praeger/Greenwood. pp. 152–53. ISBN 0-275-95648-2.

[12] "The Great Siberian Iron Road", The Daily News (London), 30 December 1896, p. 7.

[Questia-13] Davis, Clarence B.; Wilburn, Kenneth E. Jr; Robinson, Ronald E. (1991). "Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Eastern Railway". Railway Imperialism. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0313259661. Retrieved 24 July 2015 – via Questia.

[14] Pleshakov, Constantine (2002). The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima. New York: Basic Books. p. 10. ISBN 0465057926. Retrieved 3 October 2015 – via Questia.

[BaikalTravel-15] "Irkutsk: Ice-Breaker "Angara"". Lake Baikal Travel Company. Lake Baikal Travel Company. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011.

[BaikalHomepage-16] Babanine, Fedor (2003). "Circumbaikal Railway". Lake Baikal Homepage. Fedor Babanine. Retrieved 15 September 2011.

[17] "Russia's legendary Trans-Siberian railroad line completely electrified". Associated Press. 25 December 2002. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015 – via HighBeam Research.

[hramkov-18] Храмков, А.А. (2001). "Железнодорожные перевозки хлеба из Сибири в западном направлении в конце XIX – начале XX вв" [Railroad transportation of bread from Siberia westwards in the late 19th–early 20th centuries]. Предприниматели и предпринимательство в Сибири. Вып.3 [Entrepreneurs and business undertakings in Siberia. 3rd issue]. Барнаул: Изд-во АГУ. ISBN 5-7904-0195-3. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-07-01.

[19] Subtelny, Orest (2000). Ukraine: a history. University of Toronto Press. p. 262. ISBN 0-8020-8390-0.

[20] Dronin, N.M.; Bellinger, E.G. (2005). Climate dependence and food problems in Russia, 1900–1990: the interaction of climate and agricultural policy and their effect on food problems. Central European University Press. p. 38. ISBN 963-7326-10-3.

[Isitt-21] Isitt, Benjamin (2006). "Mutiny from Victoria to Vladivostok, December 1918". Canadian Historical Review. 87 (2): 223–64. doi:10.3138/chr/87.2.223. Retrieved 3 October 2016.

[22] Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, ISBN 978-80-87173-47-3, pp. 38–50, 52–102, 104–22, 124–28, 140–48, 184–90

[WILLMOTT251-23] Willmott, H.P. (2003). First World War. Dorling Kindersley. p. 251.^{[ISBN missing]}

[24] Martin, Bernd (1969), Deutschland und Japan Im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Musterschmidt Verlag, p. 155

[25] Lowenstein, Jonathan (26 April 2010). "The Journey of a Lifetime: my grandmother's escape on the Trans-Siberian railway". Telaviv1.

[26] "German Intelligence Activities in China during WW I." United States War Department Strategic Services Unit, March 1, 1946

[27] Martin 1969, p. 174

[28] Glantz, David M. (1995). When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Kansas: University Press of Kansas. p. 278. ISBN 0-7006-0899-0.

[29] "Transsiberian Railway (from Russian Railways official website)". Eng.rzd.ru. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2012.

[30] Donahue, Patrick (24 January 2008). "China-to-Germany Cargo Train Completes Trial Run in 15 Days". Bloomberg.com.

[31] Kachi, Hiroyuki (20 July 2007). "Mitsui talking to Russian railway operator on trans-Siberian freight service". MarketWatch.com.

[32] "Trans-Siberian in seven days". Railway Gazette International. 5 May 2009.

[33] "Beijing to Hamburg fast cargo rail link planned". The China Post. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2012.

[34] "Chapter 4: Freight Rates" (PDF). Review of Maritime Transport. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: 89. 2010. ISSN 0566-7682. Retrieved 31 December 2011.

[35] "CIS railway timetable, route No. 020, Moscow-Beijing". Archived from the original on December 3, 2009.

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v t e Russian Railways
Russia	Kaliningrad October Moscow Gorky South Eastern North Caucasus Volga Kuybyshev South Urals Northern Sverdlovsk West Siberian Krasnoyarsk East Siberian Trans-Baikal Far Eastern
Abkhazia	Abkhazian
Armenia	South Caucasus
Planned	Tuvan