Geography · Ch 7 — Transport and Communication
Trans–Siberian Railway
Trans–Siberian Railway
The Trans–Siberian Railway is the backbone of Russia's rail network and the most important railway line in Asia. It is a trans-continental route that connects the western part of Russia to its far eastern coast on the Pacific Ocean.
The railway runs from St. Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast in the east. Along its path, it passes through major cities including Moscow, Ufa, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Chita, and Khabarovsk. The total length of this route is 9,332 km, making it the longest double-tracked and electrified trans-continental railway in the world.
This line has played a critical role in opening up Russia's vast Asian region to West European markets. It crosses the Ural Mountains and spans the Ob and Yenisei rivers. Along the route, Chita is an important agro-centre, while Irkutsk is known as a fur centre.
Several connecting links branch southward from the main line. These links connect to:
- Odessa (Ukraine)
- Baku on the Caspian Coast
- Tashkent (Uzbekistan)
- Ulan Bator (Mongolia)
- Shenyang (Mukden) and Beijing in China …
The map is a sketch of Russia, with the Arctic Ocean running along the top edge and the Sea of Okhotsk in the far east. The entire country is labelled RUSSIA. Two water bodies are named: the Baltic Sea in the northwest and the Caspian Sea in the southwest. A set of latitude and longitude gridlines is drawn — the 50°N and 60°N parallels, and the 90°E and 120°E meridians — giving a sense of the route’s vast east-west extent. A scale bar at the bottom reads 0–300–600–900 Km.
The central feature is the Trans–Siberian Railway, shown as a dotted line. It begins at St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast, then passes through Moscow, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Angarsk, Chita, and Khabarovsk, finally ending at Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. Every one of these cities is labelled on the map.
The textbook text mentions Ufa and Irkutsk as stops, but the map description lists Angarsk instead of Irkutsk, and omits Ufa. The map is a simplified sketch — it shows the general alignment, not every station. …