New Railway Links between China and the Soviet Union

Abstract

Up to A few years ago there was only one thin long steel rail running through Manchuria, hich joined the Chinese rai way network with that of the TransSiberian Railway. Thus to travel from Nanking or Peking to Moscow and further to western Europe, one had to take a train to Tientsin, then north to Mukden in Man? churia, along the Chinese Eastern Railway to Harbin, and on to the Siberian border town of Manchouli. From there one travelled along the long Trans-Siberian Railway, crossing Siberia to the Urals and Moscow. There was an immense territory to cross, and at least ten days had to be spent in a train. A single railroad link between the European part of Russia and the Far East was unsatisfactory to the Russians for many reasons, especially economic and military ones. From the strategic point of view, the situation was catastrophic, as the Russians learned only too well during the RussoJapanese War of 1904-5, when the railway was not able to cope with the urgency of military traffic; this inadequacy of communications was one of the reasons for the Russian debacle.