Trans Manchurian Railway

Map of the main route of the Transmanchuriano. After 1905 the southern branch became the Southern Railway of Manchuria.

The Transmanchurian or Chinese Eastern Railway (Chinese: trad. 東清鐵路, simp. 东清铁路, Dōngqīng Tiělù; in Russian: Китайско- Восточная железная дорога, trans. Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheléznaya Doroga or KVZhD) is a historic railway line running through the Chinese region of Manchuria. In turn, it is also a branch of the Trans-Siberian railway that connects with the Harbin-Manzhouli line. The line was built by Imperial Russia under a concession from the Chinese Empire, and connected the port of Vladivostok with the inland city of Chita in the Russian Far East. The southern branch of the Trans-Manchurian, later transformed into the South Manchurian Railway, became a source of conflict and casus belli leading to the Russo-Japanese War, the Sino-Soviet Conflict of 1929, and the Mukden Incident that would lead to in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

History

The single-track Trans-Manchurian Railway provides a direct shortcut for the world's longest railway, the Trans-Siberian Railway, from near the Siberian city of Chita, through northern Manchuria, across Harbin, to the port route from Vladivostok. This route drastically reduces travel distance compared to the main northern route originally proposed to reach Vladivostok, which lay entirely on Russian territory, but was not completed until a decade after the Manchurian "shortcut"..

In 1896 China granted a construction concession through northern Inner Manchuria under the supervision of Vice Minister of Public Works Xu Jingcheng. Work on the Transmanchurian began in July 1897 on the Tarskaya section (east of Chita) -Hailar-Harbin-Nikolsk-Ussuriski, and accelerated dramatically after Russia concluded a twenty-five-year lease of Liaodong with China in 1898. Officially, traffic on the line began in November 1901, but regular traffic from Passengers from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok via the Trans-Siberian Railway did not begin until July 1903.

In 1898, construction of an 880-kilometre branch line—most of which would later form the South Manchuria Railway—began in Harbin, heading south through eastern Manchuria, along then the Liaodong peninsula, to the port town of Lüshun, which Russia was strengthening and developing as a strategic first-rate naval base and preparing as a coaling point for the Far East Fleet and merchant navy.

Railroad map from Manchuria to Pogranichnaya. 1903-1919

The railway was essentially completed in 1903, shortly before another rail industry milestone, the Circumbaikal Railway, which runs along Lake Baikal, opened. Until the Circumbaikal part was completed (1904-1905; double tracked in 1914), goods transported by the Trans-Siberian Railway had to be transshipped by ferry almost a hundred kilometers across the lake (from Port Baikal to Mysovaya). The Transmanchurian became important in international relations. After the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Russia obtained the right to build the China East Railway in Manchuria. A large army stood out in the region with which it occupied northern Manchuria, which worried the Japanese. Russia pressured China to grant it a "monopoly of rights" in Manchuria, which reacted by forging an alliance with Japan and the United States against it.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Russia lost both the Liaodong Peninsula and much of the southern branch of Manchuria to Japan. The railway line from Changchun to Lüshun—transferred to Japanese control—became the South Manchuria Railway. During the Russian civil war (1917-1924) the Russian part of the Trans-Manchurian railway came under the administration of the White Army. After 1924, the Soviet Union and China jointly administer the northern Trans-Manchurian railway, while Japan retained control of the southern branch line. The Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929 was fought during the administration of the northern Trans-Manchurian railway. After the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, Soviet diplomacy took a conciliatory attitude towards Japan—due to the military weakness of the Soviet Army in the region—and came to offer the Japanese government the sale of its part of the trans-Manchurian railway. Finally, on March 23, 1935, the sale of the Soviet rights to the Chinese Eastern Railway for one hundred and forty million yen was signed in Tokyo. For Japan, the purchase it was doubly successful, because Moscow had not consulted China about the sale of its rights to the railway—which meant acknowledging de facto Japanese control of Manchukuo.

In August 1945 Transmanchurian returned to joint Soviet-Chinese control, after the Soviet Union had driven out the Japanese and occupied Manchuria. Reversing Russia's losses in 1904-1905, after World War II the Soviet government insisted on occupying the Liaodong peninsula, but allowed joint control of the southern branch with China; All of this together was called the "Chinese Changchun Railway" (Russian: Кита́йская Чанчу́ньская желе́зная доро́га). In 1952, the Soviet Union transferred (for free) all of its rights to the Chinese Changchun Railway to the People's Republic of China.

Features

Transmanchuriano
Legend Chitá 96 Karymskaya River Onon 343 Borzya 460 Zabaikalsk Russia China 472 Manzhouli 1007 Ang'angxi 1407 Harbin 1654 Changchun 1954 Shenyang 2145 Shanhaiguan 2395 Tianjin 2795 Beijing

The Trans-Manchurian follows the route of the Trans-Siberian to Chitá and then follows the following route to China:

• Separation of the Transiberian in Társkaya (6312 km from Moscow)
• Zabaikalsk (6661 km from Moscow), Russian border settlement
• Manzhouli (2323 km from Beijing), Chinese border settlement
• Harbin (7,573 km from Moscow)
• Changchun (7.820 km from Moscow)
• Beijing (8,961 km from Moscow)

There is no direct passenger service covering the original route of the Transmanchurian, from Moscow or any point in Russia to Vladivostok via Harbin due to technical barriers -due to the change in gauge- and administrative barriers, when crossing the direct route two border posts Chinese (one input and one output). However, it would be possible to make the original route by making two gauge changes and having a Chinese visa.

This itinerary would pass through the following towns:

• Harbin (7,573 km from Moscow)
• Mudanjiang (7.928 km)
• Suifenhé (8.121 km), Chinese border post
• Grodékovo (8.147 km), Russian border post
• Ussuriysk (8,244 km)
• Vladivostok (8,356 km)