The Trans-Siberian Highway is the unofficial name for a network of federal highways that span the width of Russia from the Baltic Sea of the Atlantic Ocean to the Sea of Japan. In the Asian Highway Network, the route is known as AH6. It stretches over 11,000 kilometres (6,800 miles) from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok. The road disputes the title of the longest national highway in the world with Australia's Highway 1.[ citation needed ] The highway became fully paved on 12 August 2015. [1]
The route coincides in places with European route E30 over a distance of about 190 km (120 mi). One of its segments (Chelyabinsk-Novosibirsk) can be passed by the R402 highway via Ishim inside the Russian territory or by the R254 highway through the neighboring country of Kazakhstan. The route consists of seven federal highways:
Until 2010 [2] the most problematic stretch of the highway was between Chita and Khabarovsk. The first section of this route, linking Belogorsk to Blagoveshchensk (124 km in length), was constructed by gulag inmates as early as 1949. Extended and updated between 1998 and 2001, this road forms part of the Asian route AH31 connecting Belogorsk to Dalian in China.
The Chita-Khabarovsk road remained largely unfinished up until early 2004, when Russian President Vladimir Putin symbolically opened the Amur Highway, with great swaths of forest separating major portions from one another. Jim Oliver and Dennis O'Neil rode motorbikes across Russia, along the Trans-Siberian Highway, during the last week of May and the first three weeks of June in 2004: back then, as described in Jim Oliver's book, Lucille and The XXX Road, the section between Chita and Khabarovsk was an extremely challenging undertaking among marsh, gravel, rock, mud (vulnerable to the rasputitsa seasons), sand, washboard, potholes, stream fording and detours of the elusive highway with a noticeable absence of pavement which leads into cases of probable surface tension which can cause the highway to collapse. In the following years the road, in some places was a modern paved highway with painted reflective lane-lines, while in others a single lane meandering, pockmarked, loose-gravel trail following the route of the early 20th century Amur Cart Road. Completion of a 7-metre-wide highway between Chita and Khabarovsk was slated for 2010: now the road is in very good condition, completely upgraded and enlarged and with a smooth surface. [3] The Amur Highway was fully reconstructed and paved in September 2010. [2]
The road from St. Peterburg to Irkutsk existed already before the railway era. It was featured in the novel Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar by Jules Verne written in 1876.
The Trans–Siberian Railway 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, stretching from Moscow, the capital of Russia and the largest city entirely within Europe, to Vladivostok, which is situated along the Sea of Japan.
The early history of Siberia was greatly influenced by the sophisticated nomadic civilizations of the Scythians (Pazyryk) on the west of the Ural Mountains and Xiongnu (Noin-Ula) on the east of the Urals, both flourishing before the Christian era. The steppes of Siberia were occupied by a succession of nomadic peoples, including the Khitan people, various Turkic peoples, and the Mongol Empire. In the late Middle Ages, Tibetan Buddhism spread into the areas south of Lake Baikal.
The Far Eastern Republic, sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East. Although theoretically independent, it largely came under the control of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which envisaged it as a buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. Its first president was Alexander Krasnoshchyokov.
The Murmansk–Vladivostok Expedition Trophy is the world's longest winter motor rally. It runs 12,500 km from the Kola Bay lighthouse, Murmansk in north-west Russia to Zolotoi Rog bay lighthouse, Vladivostok in Far Eastern Russia, and is also the longest rally entirely within one country. The rally was first held in 2005 to celebrate the completion of the Trans-Siberian highway in 2004.
Education in Siberia expanded greatly after the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed in the 19th century. While Siberia became part of Russia in the 17th century it was not until the 20th century under the Soviet Union that education was transformed which in turn brought Siberia to economic importance. This was aimed at uniting people under the Soviet. For example, the Irkutsk State Linguistic University served as "a conduit between Russia and these native people by teaching languages" during the communist era. Imperial Russia began uniting Siberia to Russia by founding Siberia's first university, Tomsk State University, in 1878.
Asian Highway 6 (AH6) is a route in the Asian Highway Network in Asia and Europe. It runs from Busan, South Korea to the border between Russia and Belarus. Altogether it is 10,533 kilometres (6,545 mi) long.
The Russian route M5 is a major trunk road running across a distance of 1879 km from Moscow to the Ural Mountains. It is part of the European route E30 and the Trans-Siberian Highway. The section from Yekaterinburg to Chelyabinsk is also part of AH7 and the section from Chelyabinsk to Moscow is also part of AH6.
The Russian route R254 is a federal highway in Russia and Kazakhstan and is part of the Baikal Highway. It runs from Chelyabinsk through Kurgan, Petropavl, and Omsk until Novosibirsk, with a total length of 1,528 km (949 mi).
The Russian route R297 or the Amur Highway is a federal highway in Russia, part of the Trans-Siberian Highway. With a length of 2,100 km (1,300 mi), it is the longest segment, from Chita to Khabarovsk, connecting the paved roads of Siberia with those of the Russian Far East. The construction of the road united the Russian federal highways into a single system stretching from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok. Before completion of the road, the Russian Pacific coast was connected to the rest of the country only by airlines, the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the Baikal–Amur Mainline.
The Russian route A370 or the Ussuri Highway is a federal highway in Russia that forms part of the Trans-Siberian Highway. It runs from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok with a total length of 760 km. Most of the route is designated as part of Asian Highway 30, with the final section from Ussuriysk to Vladivostok forming part of AH6.
Russian federal highways are the most important highways in Russia that are federal property. The following motorways are designated as federal.
The East Siberian Railway is a railway in Russia, which runs across Irkutsk Oblast, Chita Oblast, Buryatia, and Yakutia. The railway administration is located in Irkutsk. The East Siberian Railway borders with the Krasnoyarsk Railway, Trans-Baikal Railway, and Baikal Amur Mainline. To the south, the East Siberian Railway runs close to the Russo-Mongolian border. As of 2008, the total working length of the East Siberian Railway was 3,848.1 km (2,391.1 mi); number of employees – 46,233 ; net weight hauled – 76 million tonnes ; long-distance passenger traffic – 3.6 million people ; suburban traffic – 29 million people. Annual cargo turnover is 278 million tonnes.
Sakha Avia was an airline that operated in the Sakha Republic of Russia from 1992 until 2001.
The 2015–16 Russian Cup, known as the 2015–16 Pirelli–Russian Football Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of Soviet Union.
Irkutsk-Passazhirsky is the primary passenger railway station for the city of Irkutsk in Russia, and an important stop along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The main building takes an area of 7,590 square metres.
Tayshet Railway station is a passenger railway station for the city of Tayshet in Russia. This station belongs to Trans-Siberian Railway, and it is the origin station of Baikal–Amur Mainline.
Omsk-Passazhirsky is the primary passenger railway station for the city of Omsk in Russia, and an important stop along the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Asian Highway 30 or AH30 is a route located in Russia, running 2,785 kilometres (1,731 mi) from Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai to Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai. Khabarovsk to Chita section of this Asian highway is named after Amur river as Amur Highway.
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