The epic history of the Trans-Siberian Railway

Anthony Lambert details the chequered past and glorious present of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest train journey in the world.

No railway has captured the imagination quite like the Trans-Siberian. The idea of a railway 5,771 miles long – the distance between Moscow and Vladivostok – through some of the most inhospitable yet beguiling landscapes on the planet has exercised a unique hold over armchair travellers and globetrotters alike. Incorporating Mongolia, the journey becomes an incredible 6,850 miles long.

But how did this extraordinary railway come into being?

Suggestions for a track linking Moscow with resource-rich Siberia and the Pacific coast were first made in the 1850s, but the financial and technical challenges deterred action for decades. Overseas investors expressed an interest in building the railway, but the Russian government was reluctant to allow outside interests to have a stake in such a strategic line.

It was not until Alexander III’s reign in the 1880s that the project took shape and construction began at both ends, the eastern end being inaugurated by the tsarevitch – the ill-fated future tsar, Nicholas II – at the end of his round-the-world journey in 1890.

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To save money, the specification was foolishly cut back: the foundations were narrowed, the layer of ballast decreased, lighter rails used and the number of sleepers per mile reduced. Smaller bridges were built of wood rather than iron or steel.

Construction proved a nightmare for the few qualified engineers. The lack of labour meant that soldiers and conscripts had to be brought in across the desolate taiga and the harsh climate hampered progress. Large rivers had to be bridged, and many areas were either waterlogged or iron-hard permafrost. Up to 90,000 men were employed in construction.

Before the railway around Lake Baikal was completed, trains were carried the 60 miles on the ice-breaking train ferry SS Baikal. Built in 1897 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne by Armstrong Whitworth in kit form, it was transported in pieces and assembled on the lakeshore. Even when the Circum-Baikal Railway was completed in 1904, the Baikal was kept in reserve until destroyed during the Russian Civil War. A smaller sister ship survives as a museum piece in Irkutsk.

Initially the route was not all on Russian territory: the Chinese Eastern Railway was constructed to provide a shorter route to Vladivostock via Harbin, where Russian staff were based. Now known as the Trans-Manchurian line, it is still the route of a train from Moscow to Beijing. An all-Russian Trans-Siberian route was finally completed in 1916.

The folly of building the railway on the cheap became apparent during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, when the railway could not cope with the demands made upon it, and it was not until well into the Twenties that all the deficiencies were rectified and civil war damage repaired. Electrification began in 1929 but was not completed until 2002.

Today, the railway is Russia’s most important artery, carrying more than 250,000 containers a year and about 30 per cent of Russian exports.

For the adventurous and the inquisitive, the line represents the longest rail trip in the world – and one of the greatest travel experiences.

The Big Red Train Ride author, Eric Newby, summed it up by saying: “There is no railway journey of comparable length anywhere in the world. The Trans-Siberian is the big train ride. All the rest are peanuts.”

Several different trains use the route; for passengers, the flagship UK-funded £12.8million Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express is the finest. Specially commissioned for this journey and launched in 2007, it provides luxurious standards of comfort for those wanting to experience this romantic and remarkable railway in style, with the sort of service on board that you would find in a leading luxury hotel.

Travelling across eight time zones – a third of the world – calling at the great cities and passing by remote hamlets, crossing the lofty Urals and the immense Russian Steppe, guests get to witness the Russia that few people in the West ever see, adding multiple dimensions to the sheer thrill of making the incredible journey itself.

Great Rail Journeys is the UK’s No. 1 specialist in escorted rail holidays. For more information, call 01904 734450 or visitwww.greatrail.com/trans-siberian

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