Trans-Siberian Railway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Locale | Russia |
|---|---|
| Termini | Moscow; Vladivostok |
| Built | 1891–1916 |
| Length | 9,289 km |
| Track gauge | 1,520 mm |
| Operator | H&A Logistics (through traffic) |
The Trans-Siberian Railway is a railway line running 9,289 km across Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast, the longest railway line in the world. It was built between 1891 and 1916 and crosses the Ural Mountains, the West Siberian Plain and the mountains around Lake Baikal, passing through Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk.
Since the collapse of the Russian state in the 2020s, through traffic on the line has been run by H&A Logistics. As of 2028 it is held as a corridor through infested land, and is the only overland route between the European Federation and the Pacific.
Route
The line leaves Moscow north-eastwards and crosses the Urals to Yekaterinburg, the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia. It runs east across the West Siberian Plain through Omsk and Novosibirsk, where it crosses the Ob, and through Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei to Irkutsk. Beyond Irkutsk it follows the southern shore of Lake Baikal, then turns north-east through Chita and along the Amur and Ussuri rivers by Khabarovsk to Vladivostok.
Two branches leave the main line for Beijing: the Trans-Mongolian through Ulaanbaatar, from Ulan-Ude, and the Trans-Manchurian through Harbin, from east of Chita.
The line is built to the Russian gauge of 1,520 mm, wider than the 1,435 mm standard gauge of the Federation's railways. Trains crossing between the two networks change their bogies, or their freight is transferred, at the break of gauge on the Federation's eastern border.
History
Construction
Construction was ordered by Alexander III, and the first stone was laid at Vladivostok by the future Nicholas II in 1891. The line was built from both ends and in several sections at once, largely by hand, by labourers, soldiers and convicts. Until the Circum-Baikal section along the lake's southern shore was completed in 1904, trains crossed Lake Baikal by ferry in summer and on rails laid over the ice in winter.
The first through route to Vladivostok, opened in 1903, ran through Manchuria on the Chinese Eastern Railway. A route entirely within Russian territory was completed in 1916 with the opening of the bridge over the Amur at Khabarovsk.
20th century
The railway opened Siberia to settlement and to the export of its grain, timber and minerals, and the cities along it grew from small towns into regional centres. Double track was laid along the whole line in the decades after its completion, and it was electrified in stages. Before 2020 the scheduled passenger train from Moscow to Vladivostok took about seven days, and the line carried container freight between Europe and East Asia.
Infestation
Parasite infestation appeared along the eastern part of the line in the early 2020s and spread west through Siberia, which was infested by 2026 except along the railway itself. As the Russian state fractured and Moscow fell, the railway administration broke up along with it. The Russian Federal Remnants, a military administration based in Yekaterinburg, came to control the line through the Urals and western Siberia.
H&A Logistics took over through traffic on the line in the mid-2020s. Its access to the section controlled by the Russian Federal Remnants rests on a working arrangement that has never been formalised, under which H&A supplies them with components for RTG ammunition.
In 2026 Operation Iron Road sent a relief force to Japan along the line, a journey of several weeks.
Operation
As of 2028 the railway is held as a corridor through infested land. Trains run armed, stations along the line are fortified, and clearance crews work continuously to keep parasites off the track and out of the stations, bridges and tunnels.
The parasites along the Siberian sections belong to the Boreic genome, which is adapted to cold and remains active through the winter. Clearance of the line continues all year.
Through freight from the Federation to the Pacific takes about three weeks, against about a week before 2020. Scheduled passenger services ended in the 2020s, and people travel on the line mainly on H&A business, with military units, or as evacuees.