Trans-Siberian Railway because the swampy banks of the Ob River near it were considered inappropriate for a bridge. The railway was laid to the south (instead crossing the Ob at Novonikolaevsk, later renamed Novosibirsk); just a dead-end branch line connected with Tomsk, depriving the city of the prospective transit railway traffic and trade. In March 1890, the Tsarevich (later Tsar Nicholas II) personally inaugurated the construction of the Far East segment of the Trans-Siberian Railway during his stop at Vladivostok, after visiting Japan at the end of his journey around the world. Nicholas II made notes in his diary about his anticipation
West Siberian Railway West Siberian Railway West Siberian Railway () is a Rail operator of Russian Railways and part of the Great Trans-Siberian Railway crossing the Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Tomsk, and Altai regions of the Russian Federation as well as a portion of Kazakhstan. The company is headquartered in Novosibirsk and operated by the Russian Railways. The mainline was built between 1892 and 1896 by the Russian imperial government under Sergei Witte. Its railway route length exceeds 6000 km. The Turkestan–Siberia Railway branches off from Barnaul to the south, connecting Siberia to Central Asia. The network has 63 363 employees (as of 2009).