Turkestan–Siberia Railway
Turkestan–Siberia railway in southern steppe of Kazakhstan.
Overview
Other name(s)Turk–Sib
StatusOperational
Owner
LocaleCentral Asia
Termini
Stations22
Service
Type
Operator(s)
History
Commenced1927–1930
Opened21 April 1930 (1930-04-21)
Completed21 April 1930 (1930-04-21)
Technical
Line length2,375 km (1,476 mi)
Number of tracks2
CharacterInternational rail link
Track gauge1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)
Electrification25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line
Route map
Trans Siberian Railway
to Krasnoyarsk
 Novosibirsk
Trans Siberian Railway
to Omsk
 Cherepanovo
 Srednesibirskaya
to Abakan
 Altaiskaya
to Biisk
Ob
 Barnaul
to Astana
 Lokot
Russia
Kazakhstan
border
Irtysh
 Zhana-Semei
 Shar
 Sharma
 Ayagoz
 Aktogay
to Balkhash│to Dostyk
 Matai
 Koksu
 Saryosek
 Almaty I
 Otar
 Berlik I
 Lugowaya
 Taras
 Tyulkubas
 Shymkent
to Tashkent
 Arys I
to Orenburg

The Turkestan–Siberian Railway (commonly abbreviated as the Turk–Sib, Kazakh: Түрксіб, romanized: Türksib, Arabic: تٷركسٸب, pronounced [tʏɾkˈsɪb]; Russian: Турксиб, romanized: Turksib) is a 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) broad gauge railway that connects Central Asia with Siberia. It starts north of Tashkent in Uzbekistan at Arys, where it branches off from the Trans-Aral Railway. It heads roughly northeast through Shymkent, Taraz, Bishkek (on a spur) to the former Kazakh capital of Almaty. There it turns northward to Semey before crossing the Russian border. It passes through Barnaul before ending at Novosibirsk, where it meets the West Siberian portion of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The bulk of construction work was undertaken between 1926 and 1931.

Construction history

The Turkestan-Siberia route

The idea of a railway between Siberia and Russian Turkestan was aired as early as 1886, but it was supplanted by that of a more practicable line between Tashkent and Orenburg in the Urals. On 15 October 1896 the Verny town duma set up a commission to examine the feasibility of building a Turkestan–Siberia Railway. It was expected that the line would facilitate the transport of cotton from Turkestan to Siberia and cheap Siberian grain from Russia to the Fergana Valley. An eastern branch would enhance Russia's military and economic presence on the Chinese border.

In 1906 the Russian imperial government decided to finance the construction of the first section, between Barnaul and Arys. A team of Russian engineers made a detailed survey of the steppe and semi-desert regions the railway was expected to cross. On 21 October 1915 the northern section linking Novosibirsk and Semipalatinsk as the Altai Railway. The missing Arys–Pishpek–Tokmak section, officially known as Semipalatinsk Railway, was left to be built by a French-financed Russian-managed private railway consortium. World War I put an end to this project.

After the Bolshevik Revolution construction work was suspended for a decade, and the 140-kilometre (87 mi) long Semipalatinsk–Ayaguz line, built-in 1918–19 by the White Russians on the initiative of Admiral Kolchak, was demolished for no apparent reason. The remaining 1,442 kilometres (896 mi) railway were constructed with great fanfare as part of the first five-year plan between 1928 and 1932.

Regular passenger service was finally established between Semipalatinsk and Ayaguz on 10 May 1929. The Turksib was completed on 21 April 1930. The locomotive which pioneered the route going from Tashkent to Semipalatinsk (Э-1441(rus)) later became a part of a memorial in Alma-Ata.

Viktor Alexandrovitsh Turin directed a 1929 Soviet documentary film on the building of the railway which also bore the name Turksib.

Connectivity

Years after the Turksib was completed, it was joined at Shu by Kazakhstan's main north-south line, which serves Karaganda, Astana and Petropavlovsk, on one of the main Transsib routes.

In 1990, Aktogay station, roughly midway between Alma-Ata and Semipalatinsk, became an important junction. Lines from there run east, connecting at Dostyk with China's Lanxin railway Line (toward Urumqi, Lanzhou, and heartland China); and west, to Balkhash and Karaganda.

References

    • Vitali A. Rakov. Russian Locomotives, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1995.
    • Inkerin suomalaiset GPU:n kourissa. Helsinki 1942. Inkerin karkoitettujen kirjeitä. Helsinki 1943.
    • Eugene Lyons, Locomotives Come to Central Asia, a chapter in Assignment in Utopia

    Further reading

    44°37′24″N 77°59′32″E / 44.62333°N 77.99222°E / 44.62333; 77.99222

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