The first rails for railways were laid almost two centuries ago. Today, traveling even in an ultra-modern high-speed train is not the fastest way to travel around the planet, but remains one of the most convenient and safe. And rail freight for a long time will be the main type of exchange of goods between countries and regions.
A well-developed network of railway tracks, including the longest railway in the world, which the Trans-Siberian Railway has long been considered to be, are the necessary conditions for the progress of any economically developed region and the entire world economy.
Historical reference
After a very short time after the opening of the first public railway track in England in 1825, it became clear that this was the best way to transport goods and passengers. The world's railways began to entangle the land with a rail web. The number of laid paths began to clearly reflect the level of economic development of the state and its potential, including military.
The Russian Empire, in full accordance with the national character of the titular nation, harnessed for a long time and for a long time carried loads on horseback. Although the first railway connection between the capital St. Petersburg and the cottage Pavlovsk was established back in 1837, the operation of the railways in Russia was conditional for a long time because of their absence.
National feat
The specifics of Russian spaces dictated the need for accelerated development of the railway network - this was understandable to the most backward retrograde in the tsarist government. In May 1891, the heir to the throne, the future last autocrat, Nicholas II personally poured a wheelbarrow of land into the base of the railway embankment near Vladivostok. And the construction of the eastern section of the Trans-Siberian Railway began. In order for the first train to travel from the Atlantic coast to Vladivostok in 1904, a tremendous amount of money and manpower was expended.
The distance from Europe to the Russian Far East is such that after the construction was completed, Russia inevitably turned out to be the longest railway in the world. The construction of the Great Siberian Route, as the highway was originally called, was called by many (especially during the days of the celebration of the opening of the movement) a joint feat of the united Russian people, combining both a leading engineer and a simple digger to achieve the result. Having removed excessive pathos, one can find in this statement a large share of truth.
Trans-Siberian Railway
Formally, the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed when a section of the route from Chelyabinsk to Vladivostok was built, but the reconstruction continued for a very long time. The length of the Trans-Siberian Railway, documented in the form of a tablet at the Yaroslavl Station in Moscow, is 9298 km. In 2012, the complete electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway ended, and today the train from Moscow to Vladivostok lasts only 6 days and 13 hours.
Russian nature cannot leave inanimate even a purely prosaic and economic concept. A long journey along the Russian railways is not just moving in space, it impresses any person, giving rise to deep experiences. The longest railway in the world - the Trans-Siberian Railway - is the heroine of numerous poetic and prose texts of various genres, songs are composed about it and films are made.
The Great Silk Road
China has long been a leader in economic growth. The trade, economic, political, social and social ties of modern China with Russia and Europe require the establishment of high-throughput communication routes. The railways of the world and Europe are becoming an important part of this process.
Historical traditions in establishing contacts with many modern businessmen and politicians are seen in laying the Great Silk Road, known since ancient times, on a modern basis. For some time the caravan routes connecting East and Europe had enormous intensity, which was reflected in the wide spread in Europe of orientalism in fashion, visual and applied art. Chinoiserie - Chinese Rococo, which became the defining trend for leading European architects and decorators at the turn of the XVII and XVIII centuries - is largely the result of the heroic efforts of the merchants, who brought rich caravans from China.
An important area of the economy
In the modern economy of China, the transport component is significant. The need to connect remote areas of the country with the industrial and economic center, the high need for interstate transportation made China a leader in the railway industry. The length of railways along which super-modern trains move is constantly growing.
In 2012, traffic was opened along a new railway line from Beijing to Guangzhou. The Chinese capital and the largest metropolis in the south of the country are connected by the longest and fastest branch in the world. Supercomfortable and reliable trains will move along it at a speed of about 300 km / h, which will reduce by three times the time that was spent on this road before. The largest railways in the world follow exactly this development path.
Madrid - Yiwu
Today, to deliver goods from China to Europe, months-long dangerous trips by camels and horses along impassable paths are not needed. But serious investment is necessary. The Chinese have long proclaimed the desire to make such a path quick, profitable, reliable, inviting Russian specialists to cooperation.
At the end of 2014, China was solemnly held, and in Madrid, after 21 days, they met a train that crossed the path from the Chinese city of Yiwu, located on the Pacific coast. Thus began the longest railway in the world with a length of about 13,000 km. Although its condition does not yet allow for the movement of comfortable passenger trains, and the passage of trains largely depends on the weather and other local factors, we can say that the development of the world's transport network has entered a new, impressive stage of development.