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
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).