Trans-siberian railway

The Trans–Siberian Railway (TSR; Russian: Транссибирская магистраль, tr. Transsibirskaya magistral', is a network of railways connecting Western Russia to the Russian Far East.It is the longest railway line in the world, with a length of over 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles), starting from the capital Moscow, the largest city in Europe, and ending at Vladivostok, on the Pacific Ocean.

In the late 19th century, the development of Siberia was hampered by poor transport links within the region, as well as with the rest of the country. Aside from the Great Siberian Route, good roads suitable for wheeled transport were rare. For about five months of the year, rivers were the main means of transport. During the cold half of the year, cargo and passengers travelled by horse-drawn sledges over the winter roads, many of which were the same rivers, but ice-covered.

Today
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This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2014)
This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (April 2015)
The Trans-Siberian line remains the most important transport link within Russia; around 30% of Russian exports travel on the line. While it attracts many foreign tourists, it gets most of its use from domestic passengers.

Trans-Siberian route in 7 days
In 2008, the Russian Railways JSC (state company) launched a program for the accelerated delivery of containers cargo by block trains from the Far-Eastern ports (Vladivostok, Nakhodka and others) to the western borders of Russia, called "Transsib in 7 days". Within the framework of the program it is planned to decrease the cargo delivery time from the Far East from 11 days in 2008 to 7 days in 2015. The length of the routes is about 10,000 km (6,200 mi). The speed of delivery via the block trains should increase from 900 km (560 mi) per day in 2008 to 1,500 km (930 mi) per day in 2015. The first accelerated experimental block-train was launched in February 2009 from Vladivostok to Moscow. The length of the route was about 9,300 km (5,800 mi), the actual time of the experimental train's delivery was 7 days and 5 hours, the average route speed was up to 1,289 km (801 mi) per day. The maximum route speed of the train was 1,422 km (884 mi) per day.