Green landscapes and white nights
The landscape in the summer is covered in pine trees, forests
and green pastures. Yellow, purple and white flowers dot the forests and the occasional
horse and cow adds a dash of life. The landscape only really changes once you
enter into Mongolia for a more deserted and steppe like landscape. In winter,
snow covers most of the line.
Surprisingly, the landscape is mostly flat with very little
elevation until Lake Baikal. Even when the train crosses the Urals there are no
mountains in sight because the railway passes through the lower part of the Urals
where elevation is minimal. Even in the highest point the Urals, natural
separation between Europe and Asia are lower than 2,000 meters.
In summer, the sky is nevver fully dark and the sun sets for very ffew hours giving the landscape the most beautiful sunrise and sunsets with all shades of red, orange and purple only ending in a soft twilight.
Most population live along the railway line
As opposed to other relevant railway systems the
Trans-Siberian is over a century old and given the harsh conditions in most of
its route the majority of the 38 million people living in
Siberia are concentrated along the railway corridor whic h provides life and a source of employment to the people living there.
From the train you will
see a continuum of towns and villages every few minutes with the omnipresent
blue and green wooden houses and the green birch and pine trees.
That also means that if you want to visit Siberia the best way
is to follow he railway as most of the sights are found along the route
including historical Kazan, capital of the Tatarstan, Yekaterinburg where the
last Tsar was assassinated or Lake Baikal.
Lake Baikal used to be crossed by ferry
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| Source: Lonely Planet |
Today the route surrounds the lake but originally ferries
were used to transport passengers and in winter, the carriages would cross the
frozen lake pulled by horses. The ferry used to cross the lake was manufactured
in the UK and shipped in pieces to be re-assembled in Russia.
The construction of the Circumbaikal line was the last part
to be completed in 1904 and it involved 200 bridges and 60 tunnels through the mountainous
region. The descend was so steep that railway workers were afraid to open the
line even after it was constructed.
The Trans-Siberian is not a tourist train
The Trans-Siberian is not the name of any train but the
description of a route from Moscow to Vladivostok. No train is actually called
like that and the route is used by freight and passenger transportation. If you
wish to cover the entire route, you can buy a ticket for the journey and jump
on the specified train. There would be no chance to stop and sight see as this
is a regular train that does not allow hop-on hop-off like the sightseeing
buses. The ticket will be for a one-way trip taking six and a half days. There
are limited food and washing facilities on board, but also very few people
actually using the train as a means of transportation across the entire country
Very few tourists are found in the train which mainly takes
Russians and merchandise across the vast country. The frequency of trains used
to be every 12 minutes in Soviet times and is still incredibly high in some
sections with trains passing every few minutes.
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| Imperial cabin, Golden Eagle |
For a tourist friendly journey you can take the private Tsar’s
Train or the Golden Eagle both of which include a variety of stops and visits
of the main interest points along the route and are made only for tourists.
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| Golden Eagle bar carriage |
The route provides a chronological tale of Russian’s history
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| CHurch on the Blood, Yekaterinburg |
From St. Petersburg to Moscow, Kazan and its
Tatarstan history, Yekaterinburg’s Nicholas II assassination and birthplace of
Yeltsin, Novosibirsk’s Largest Opera and 3rd largest population in
the country, the border between Asia and Europe, Siberia’s border marker where
countless prisoners waved goodbye to their beloved land when exiled and held
prisoner in Siberia’s Gulags…
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| Mosque, Kazan |
The Trans-Siberian train journey provides the
best insight into Russian’s history. Because of its historical importance the
train traces the most important sites of the country’s recent history. It was
used during the most important Russian wars and was key for the Russian
Revolution and the country’s role in WWII. It is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy
as the train connected the most important centres across the country and at the
same time, was the reason why so many new cities were constructed along the
railway.
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