The Trans-Siberian Railway is a railway network that connects Western Russia to the Russian Far East. It is the longest railway line in the world with a length of 9,289 kilometres. Expansion of this railway system is still continuing as of 2021, reaching to Mongolia, China, and North Korea. There is a plan of connecting Tokyo to this network via bridges between the mainland and the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido.
Planned and executed by Tsar Alexander III, its construction began in 1891 and took place in different sections from the west (Moscow) and from the east (Vladivostok) and across intermediate reaches through the Mid-Siberian Railway, the Transbaikal Railway, and other lines simultaneously. In the east, the Russians secured China’s permission to build a line directly across Manchuria from the Transbaikal region to Vladivostok and this line was completed in 1901.
After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, Russia feared Japan’s possible takeover of Manchuria and built a longer and complex alternative route – the Amur Railway, through this region to Vladivostok. The Amur railway line was completed in 1916. As a result, the Trans-Siberian Railroad has two completion dates.
Its completion marked a milestone in the history of Siberia, as it opened up large areas to be exploited for settlement, and industrialization.
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