The Trans-Siberian Railway
Short History Of...
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The Trans-Siberian Railway Provoked a War With Japan
Japan was just waking up to its imperial ambitions. It didn't like the idea of this trans-Siberian railway, which at that stage in the early 1900s was a pretty crude railway. The Russians envisaged it as a strategic asset allowing the army to move troops quickly from west to east. But the poor quality of the rapidly built line lets them down. Rushed construction and cheap materials such as iron track instead of steel means that the railways beset with faults and delays. Plus, there is only a single line, so trains waste hours waiting in sidings for the oncoming service to pass.
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