On July 13, 1904, after 13 years of construction, the Trans-Siberian Railway was finally opened to traffic. The railway connects the Pacific coast of the Ural Mountains from Cheryabinsk to Vladivostok and has a total length of 407 miles.

The decision to build the railway was made in 1891 on the basis of extensive research and demonstration work beginning in the mid-19th century. Ground was first broken in May of that year from Vladivostok to the north, and in July 1892 from Cheryabinsk to the east. To build the railway, the Russians had to overcome countless difficulties: the wide rivers and steep hillsides around Lake Baikal, the permafrost of eastern Siberia, and the severe cold and heat, but by 1898 the line had stretched from Irkutsk to Khabarovsk.

At the same time, the Russian government negotiated a treaty with China (1896) allowing the Russians to build a Middle East railway that would more directly connect Vladivostok and Lake Baikal over a shorter distance through Manchuria. The Russians built more than 1000 stations. The distance between stations was mainly determined based on the soil quality, but basically every station was 27 miles apart.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is believed to be the best way to increase Siberia's population and develop trade. From 1896 to 1900, the number of people traveling to the Far East doubled to 0, many of whom were instrumental in opening up the Chinese market.