Trans-Siberian Railway

The 9,300 kilometer line from Moscow to Vladivostok, the longest railway in the world, completed in 1916.

Overview

Built from 1891 in stages, partly to bind Siberia and move its grain, coal and timber, the line ran initially through Manchuria before the Amur route secured Russian territory, a weakness the war with Japan exposed in 1904. Soviet planners electrified the whole system by the 1960s and added the Baikal-Amur parallel. Post-Soviet decay gave way to revival as China-Europe container landbridge services cut sea transit times nearly in half for premium shippers, though sanctions after 2022 complicated the through business. The railway remains Siberia's lifeline and the spine of Russia's east-west economy.