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
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