View source for Turkestan–Siberia Railway

{{no footnotes|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox rail 
| railroad_name     = Turkestan–Siberia Railway 
| logo_filename     = 
| logo_size         = 
| system_map        = Turksib.svg
| map_caption       = The Turkestan-Siberia route.
| map_size          = 330px
| marks             = 
| image             = 
| image_size        = 
| image_caption     = 
| locale            = [[Kazakhstan]]
| start_year        = 1929
| end_year          = current
| predecessor_line  = 
| successor_line    = 
| length            =
| gauge             = {{RailGauge|1520mm}}<br> [[Russian gauge|broad gauge]]
| hq_city           = 
| website           =
}}

[[File:Turk-Sib railway.jpg|thumb|Turkestan–Siberia railway in southern steppe of Kazakhstan.]]

The '''Turkestan–Siberian Railway''' (commonly abbreviated as the ''Turk–Sib'', Kazakh: Түрксіб; Russian: Турксиб) is a {{RailGauge|1520mm}} [[Russian gauge|broad gauge]] railway that connects [[Central Asia]] with [[Siberia]]. It starts north of [[Tashkent]] in [[Uzbekistan]] at [[Arys, Kazakhstan|Arys]], where it branches off from the [[Trans-Aral Railway]]. It heads roughly northeast through [[Shymkent]], [[Taraz]], [[Bishkek]] (on a spur) to the former [[Kazakhstan|Kazakh]] capital of [[Almaty]].  There it turns northward to [[Semey]] before crossing the [[Russia]]n border.  It passes through [[Barnaul]] before ending at [[Novosibirsk]], where it meets the [[West Siberian Railway|West Siberian portion]] of the [[Trans-Siberian railway]]. The bulk of construction works was undertaken between 1926 and 1931.

== Construction history ==
The idea of a railway between Siberia and [[Russian Turkestan]] was aired as early as 1886, but it was supplanted by that of [[Tashkent Railway|a more practicable line]] between Tashkent and [[Orenburg]] in the [[Urals]]. On 15 October 1896 the [[Almaty|Verny town]] [[duma]] set up a commission to examine the feasibility of building a Turkestan–Siberia Railway. It was expected that the line would facilitate transport of cotton from Turkestan to Siberia and cheap Siberian grain from Russia to the [[Fergana Valley]]. An eastern branch would enhance Russia's military and economic presence on the [[China|Chinese]] border.

In 1906 the Russian imperial government decided to finance construction of the first section, between [[Barnaul]] and [[Arys, Kazakhstan|Arys]]. A team of Russian engineers made a detailed survey of the steppe and semi-desert regions the railway was expected to cross. On 21 October 1915 the northern section linking [[Novosibirsk]] and [[Semipalatinsk]] as the [[Altai Railway]]. The missing Arys–[[Bishkek|Pishpek]]–[[Tokmok|Tokmak]] section, officially known as [[Semipalatinsk]] Railway, was left to be built by a French-financed Russian-managed private railway consortium. [[World War I]] put an end of this project.

After the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] construction work was suspended for a decade, and the {{convert|140|km|adj=on}} long Semipalatinsk–[[Ayaguz]] line, built in 1918–19 by the [[White Movement|White Russians]] on the initiative of [[Admiral Kolchak]], was demolished for no apparent reason. The remaining {{convert|1442|km}} of railway were constructed with great fanfare as part of the [[First Five-Year Plan]] between 1928 and 1932.

Regular passenger service was finally established between Semipalatinsk and Ayaguz on 10 May 1929. The Turksib was completed on 21 April 1930. The locomotive which  pioneered the route going from Tashkent to Semipalatinsk (Э-1441(rus)) later became a part of a memorial in [[Almaty]].

Viktor Alexandrovitsh Turin directed a 1929 [[Soviet]] [[documentary]] film on the building of the railway which also bore the name Turksib.

== Connectivity ==
[[File:Turksib railway.webm|thumb|left|Video of Turksib railway in southern Kazakhstan steppe.]]
Years after the Turksib was completed, it was joined at [[Shu, Jambyl|Shu]] by Kazakhstan's main north-south line, which  serves [[Karaganda]], [[Astana]] and [[Petropavl]]ovsk, on one of the main [[Transsib]] routes.

In 1990, [[Aktogay, East Kazakhstan Province|Aktogay]] station, roughly midway between Almaty and Semey, became an important junction. Lines from there run east, connecting at [[Dostyk]] with [[China]]'s [[Lanxin railway]] Line (toward [[Urumqi]], [[Lanzhou]], and heartland China); and west, to [[Balqash]] and Karaganda.

==References==
{{Portal|Railways}}
*[http://turksib.com/indexe.php Mysterious Turksib]
*Vitali A. Rakov. ''Russian Locomotives'', 2nd ed. Moscow, 1995.
*Inkerin suomalaiset GPU:n kourissa. Helsinki 1942. Inkerin karkoitettujen kirjeitä. Helsinki 1943.
*[[Eugene Lyons]], ''Locomotives Come to Central Asia'', a chapter in ''Assignment in Utopia''
*{{IMDb title|0020523|Turksib}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Turkestan-Siberia Railway}}
[[Category:Rail transport in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Railway lines in Russia]]
[[Category:Rail transport in Siberia]]
[[Category:Railway lines in Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Rail transport in Kyrgyzstan]]
[[Category:Rail transport in Uzbekistan]]
[[Category:Railway lines opened in 1931]]
[[Category:International railway lines]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]