Trans-Siberian Railway as the Russo-Chinese part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting Russia with China and providing a shorter route to Vladivostok. A Russian staff and administration based in Harbin operated it. Siberian agriculture began to send cheap grain westwards beginning around 1869. Agriculture in Central Russia was still under economic pressure after the end of serfdom, which was formally abolished in 1861. To defend the central territory and prevent possible social destabilisation, the Tsarist government introduced the Chelyabinsk tariff-break (Челябинский тарифный перелом) in 1896, a tariff barrier for grain passing through Chelyabinsk, and a similar barrier in Manchuria. This measure changed the
Tomsk–Tayga railway line Tomsk–Tayga railway line The Tomsk–Tayga railway line is the railway branch connecting the Trans-Siberian Railway with Tomsk. The line is a single track throughout. Construction started in summer 1895 and completed in the end of 1896. Had at that time a length of 89 miles (95 kilometers). The need for the branches associated with the decision to build the Trans-Siberian Railway to bypass Tomsk, which was adopted in 1893. The beginning of the branches was a 213-mile (227-th kilometer or about) the Medium-Siberian railway from nameless settlement of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Later the station became known as Tomsk–Tayga, and later