Trans-Siberian Railway Similar to the First Transcontinental Railroad in the US, Russian engineers started construction at both ends and worked towards the centre. From Vladivostok the railway was laid north along the right bank of the Ussuri River to Khabarovsk at the Amur River, becoming the Ussuri Railway. In 1890, a bridge across the Ural River was built and the new railway entered Asia. The bridge across the Ob River was built in 1898 and the small city of Novonikolaevsk, founded in 1883, grew into the large Siberian city of Novosibirsk. In 1898 the first train reached Irkutsk and the shores of
Trans-Siberian Orchestra more than 10 million concert tickets and over 10 million albums. The band has released a series of rock operas: "Christmas Eve and Other Stories", "The Christmas Attic", "Beethoven's Last Night", "The Lost Christmas Eve", their two-disc "Night Castle" and "Letters From the Labyrinth". Trans-Siberian Orchestra is also known for their extensive charity work and elaborate concerts, which include a string section, a light show, lasers, "enough pyro to be seen from the International Space Station", moving trusses, video screens, and effects synchronized to music. Both "Billboard Magazine" and "Pollstar" have ranked them as one of the top ten ticket-selling