Editing Trans-Siberian Railway (section)

===Construction===

[[File:Clearing on the right-of-way of the Eastern Siberian Railway, A LCCN2004708023 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Clearing on the right-of-way of the Eastern Siberian Railway, 1895]]
[[File:Construction work on the Eastern Siberian Railway near Khabarovsk LCCN2004708079.jpg|thumb|right|Construction work being performed by convicts on the Eastern Siberian Railway near [[Khabarovsk]], 1895]]

On 9 March 1891, the Russian government issued an [[imperial rescript]] in which it announced its intention to construct a railway across Siberia.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Clarence B. |url=https://www.questia.com/read/71900198/railway-imperialism |title=Railway Imperialism |last2=Wilburn |first2=Kenneth E. Jr |last3=Robinson |first3=Ronald E. |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0313259661 |location=Westport, Connecticut |page=140 |chapter=Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Chinese Eastern Railway |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406164345/https://www.questia.com/read/71900198/railway-imperialism |archive-date=2020-04-06 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Tsarevich Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II) inaugurated the construction of the railway in Vladivostok on 19 May that year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pleshakov |first=Constantine |url=https://www.questia.com/read/100959210/the-tsar-s-last-armada-the-epic-journey-to-the-battle |title=The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima |publisher=Basic Books |year=2002 |isbn=0465057926 |location=New York |page=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603130123/https://www.questia.com/read/100959210/the-tsar-s-last-armada-the-epic-journey-to-the-battle |archive-date=2019-06-03 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Lake Baikal is more than {{convert|640|km|abbr=off|sp=us}} long and more than {{convert|1600|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} deep. Until the [[Circum-Baikal Railway]] was built the line ended on either side of the lake. The [[Icebreaker|ice-breaking]] [[train ferry]] {{SS|Baikal}} built in 1897 and smaller ferry ''SS Angara'' built in about 1900 made the four-hour crossing to link the two railheads.<ref name="BaikalTravel">{{Cite web|title=Irkutsk: Ice-Breaker "Angara" |url=http://www.lakebaikaltravel.com/baikal-travel-guide/landmarks-baikal/83-irkutsk-ice-breaker-angara.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924190950/http://www.lakebaikaltravel.com/baikal-travel-guide/landmarks-baikal/83-irkutsk-ice-breaker-angara.html |archive-date=24 September 2011 |access-date=15 September 2011 |website=Lake Baikal Travel Company }}</ref><ref name="BaikalHomepage">{{Cite web |last=Babanine |first=Fedor |year=2003 |title=Circumbaikal Railway |url=http://www.irkutsk.org/baikal/railway.htm |access-date=15 September 2011 |website=Lake Baikal Homepage |publisher=Fedor Babanine}}</ref>

The Russian admiral and explorer [[Stepan Makarov]] (1849–1904) designed ''Baikal'' and ''Angara'' but they were built in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], by [[Armstrong Whitworth]]. They were "knock down" vessels; that is, each ship was bolted together in the United Kingdom, every part of the ship was marked with a number, the ship was disassembled into many hundreds of parts and transported in kit form to [[Listvyanka, Irkutsky District, Irkutsk Oblast|Listvyanka]] where a shipyard was built especially to reassemble them.<ref name=BaikalHomepage/> Their boilers, engines and some other components were built in [[Saint Petersburg]]<ref name=BaikalHomepage/> and transported to Listvyanka to be installed. ''Baikal'' had 15 boilers, four funnels, and was {{convert|64|m|sp=us}} long. it could carry 24 railway coaches and one locomotive on the middle deck. ''Angara'' was smaller, with two funnels.<ref name=BaikalTravel/><ref name=BaikalHomepage/>

Completion of the Circum-Baikal Railway in 1904 bypassed the ferries, but from time to time the Circum-Baikal Railway suffered from derailments or rockfalls so both ships were held in reserve until 1916. ''Baikal'' was burnt out and destroyed in the [[Russian Civil War]]<ref name=BaikalTravel/><ref name=BaikalHomepage/> but ''Angara'' survives. It has been restored and is permanently moored at Irkutsk where it serves as an office and a museum.<ref name=BaikalTravel/>

In winter, sleighs were used to move passengers and cargo from one side of the lake to the other until the completion of the Lake Baikal spur along the southern edge of the lake. With the Amur River Line north of the Chinese border being completed in 1916, there was a continuous railway from [[Petrograd]] to Vladivostok that, to this day, is the world's second longest railway line. Electrification of the line, begun in 1929 and completed in 2002, allowed a doubling of train weights to {{convert|6000|t|sp=us}}. There were expectations upon electrification that it would increase rail traffic on the line by 40 percent.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 December 2002 |title=Russia's legendary Trans-Siberian railroad line completely electrified |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-70603200.html |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription |access-date=14 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904061530/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-70603200.html |archive-date=4 September 2015 |via=[[HighBeam Research]]}}</ref>

The entire length of the Trans-Siberian Railway was double track by 1939.<ref>{{cite book |last=Manley |first=Deborah |author-link= |date=2011 |title=The Trans-Siberian Railway: A Traveller's Anthology |url= |location= |publisher=Andrews UK Limited |page=xviii |isbn=}}</ref>