Trans-Siberian Railway imperial collapse, and before the Red Army took control, the Czechs and Slovaks were able to use their organisation and the resources of the railway to establish a temporary zone of control before eventually continuing onwards towards Vladivostok, from where they emigrated back to Czechoslovakia. During World War II, the Trans-Siberian Railway played an important role in the supply of the powers fighting in Europe. During the first two years of the war the USSR had secretly agreed to a neutrality and non-aggression pact with Germany. While Germany's merchant shipping was interdicted by the Western allies, the Trans-Siberian Railway (along
Amur Railway and the Transbaikal section of the Transsib were merged to form the Transbaikal Railway. The construction of the Amur Railway was completed before the outbreak of World War I and cost over 250,000 million rubles. The eastern section of the railroad alone cost 73 million rubles. The famous Norwegian explorer and geographer Fridtjof Nansen referred to the Trans-Siberian Railway as a "technical wonder". Its construction favoured the rapid development of formerly backward regions of Siberia and Far East. Amur Railway The broad gauge Amur Railway (, or Amurskaya zheleznaya doroga) is the last section of the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia,