The Week-Long Line Across Siberia
The Trans-Siberian runs from Moscow to Vladivostok, the longest railway line on Earth. It was laid from both ends between 1891 and 1916, crosses eight time zones, and takes the Rossiya express about a week.
Moscow to Vladivostok, from UTC+3 to UTC+10. About a week aboard the Rossiya (164 h scheduled).
Under a fifth of it is in Europe
Yekaterinburg, just past the Urals, comes at kilometre 1,816. Everything after that is Siberia and the Russian Far East.
Seven hours ahead by the end of the line
The line runs from UTC+3 in Moscow to UTC+10 in Vladivostok, a record eight time zones for a single railway line.
Twenty-five years to close the gap
Work started in 1891. The Circum-Baikal stretch replaced the lake ferries in 1904. The last link, the Amur bridge at Khabarovsk, opened in October 1916.
Nearly twice the next-longest train
Scheduled distance of the world's longest passenger services. The Rossiya runs about 1.9 times as far as the runner-up, Guangzhou–Lhasa.
A line that moved a country's harvest
The railway turned Siberia into a source of exports. In the Second World War it carried about as much freight as the Arctic and Iranian supply routes put together.
Read the red line from left to right
- The line hugs Russia's southern edge. Every big city it serves sits in a narrow band near the borders with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China, where the land is farmable.
- It crosses all the great north-flowing rivers (Volga, Ob, Yenisei) and swings round the southern tip of Lake Baikal, the stretch where the Circum-Baikal line replaced the ferries in 1904.
- Past Chita, the route bends north to stay on the Russian side of the Amur. That is why the 2,294 km to Khabarovsk is the longest gap between big cities.
- Its colour darkens west to east: each step is one more hour ahead of Moscow, up to seven hours at Vladivostok.
Sources & notes
- Length, city distances, time zones, workers, electrification, highest point, grain exports, Circum-Baikal, schedule: Wikipedia, “Trans-Siberian Railway” (accessed Nov 2026; route table and infobox: 9,289 km; 8 time zones, UTC+3 to UTC+10; 62,000 workers; electrified 1929–2002, train weights doubled to 6,000 t; Yablonovy Pass 1,070 m; 501,932 t/yr grain & flour 1896–1913).
- Line length cross-check: Structurae, “Trans-Siberian Railway” (9,289 km).
- Amur bridge, Khabarovsk, opened 5 Oct 1916: Global Railway Review, “Trans-Siberian Railway celebrates 100 years” (2016).
- Construction began 1891; ~9,500 km including the St Petersburg–Moscow line: Britannica (Student), “Trans-Siberian Railroad”.
- Comparison of long train services (distance, scheduled time): Wikipedia, “Longest train services” (accessed Nov 2026). The Rossiya service is listed at 9,300 km, slightly more than the 9,289 km line. Other trains on the line are scheduled at 147 h.
- Notes: The map is schematic and hand-simplified, not survey-accurate. City time zones are the current official Russian zones. The 2,294 km Chita–Khabarovsk gap is derived from the listed distances. The WWII claim (Trans-Siberian freight equalled the Arctic and Iranian Lend-Lease routes combined) is reported by Wikipedia and should be read as an approximate historical estimate.