Articles
When we think of winter train journeys, the view can be a romantic one – snow-laden dales and trains steaming through drifts. However, the reality can be rather different. Perhaps no other route epitomises the battle between climate and engineering better than the Trans-Siberia Railway.
In 1860, Russia’s rail network extended over 1,000 miles, but by 1917 it spanned 45,000 miles. This huge increase was partly down to the completion of the awesome Trans-Siberia Railway. The project was a feat of engineering, being the longest railway ever built and stretching from Moscow to Vladivostok. The route crosses extremely hostile conditions.
In 1857, Murav’yov-Amurskiy, governor of Eastern Siberia, suggested establishing a railway to develop and populate the region. The military engineer D Romanov was engaged to research and survey construction, from the Amur River to De-Kastri Bay. Count Sergei Witte, minister of transport, wanted rapid industrialisation in Russia, so he persuaded Czar Alexander III to make his heir, the future Nicholas II, chairman of a Siberian Railway Committee. This involvement guaranteed royal support and a lowering of bureaucratic obstacles. Appointed finance minister in 1892, Witte paid for the railway by raising loans, increasing taxes and printing roubles.
The czar launched the “Great Siberian Way”, and construction began 1891. It proceeded so fast that track sections were not always properly surveyed and green timber was often used. Higher-grade materials were abandoned, foundations narrowed, the layer of ballast decreased, lighter rails used and the number of sleepers per mile reduced. Bridges that were planned to be built from iron and steel were instead made from wood.
As a result of this cost-cutting, construction was difficult for the few qualified engineers hired. Lack of labour forced the Russians to import workers, including convicts. Around 90,000 men had to be kept fed and supplied. The hostile weather also meant progress was often halted. Large rivers had to be bridged, and many areas were either waterlogged or solidified by permafrost.
Almost all the work along the route was completed by hand, using axes, saws, shovels and wheelbarrows. Mechanical aids were few. The construction resulted in 100 million m3 of rock being moved, more than 12 million sleepers used, more than one million tons of rails laid, and more than 62 miles of bridges and tunnels built. About 50 protection galleries against landslides were built, 39 tunnels dug, and support walls created from concrete and hydraulic mixture. Yaroslavl Station in Moscow was opened in 1902 and the first passenger trains ran from the summer of 1903.
In Eastern Siberia, the railway was partly intended to further Russia’s imperial ambitions in the Far East, and the final stretches were built through Manchuria on land leased from the Chinese. This access enabled the Russians to build the line directly across Manchuria from the Transbaikal region to Vladivostok. The trans-Manchurian line was completed in 1901.
Politics then shifted and introduced new challenges. When the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) broke out, troops could be moved east by rail. Russia feared that Japan would take over Manchuria, so after the war it built the Amur line, to provide a route entirely through Russian territory. This route, which was much longer and more difficult to construct, was finished in 1916.
The war also highlighted challenges arising from the cheap materials and methods used in construction. Because of high war demand, the railway frequently broke down, and it wasn’t until the early 1920s that all the deficiencies were rectified. The problems due to corner-cutting caused frequent delays, which meant travellers had to develop a patience unknown to the modern rail user.
Did you know? Slow train to Siberia
The original trains on the Trans-Siberia Railway had marble-tiled bathrooms, a grand piano in the music room, a library and a gym, as well as caviar and sturgeon in the first-class dining room. By contrast, the third-class carriages were cramped and uncomfortable. The train proceeded at a stately pace of around 20mph.
Passenger trains ran from 1903, though a ferry was needed across Lake Baikal until track to the south of the lake was completed.