it will probably have branch lines to Biisk and Kuznetsk. Besides crossing the most fertile agricultural zone in Siberia, this railway will also pass through the richest mineral area in the empire, for immediately to the south of Sudjensk on the Siberian railway, and extending southward and eastward as far as Kuznetsk and Barnaul respectively, lie the great coal and iron and copper deposits of the Altai. The development of this area is only awaiting railway construction, and it is no exaggeration to say that this projected Altai railway will traverse one of the richest regions in the world. Its importance, moreover, will be enhanced by the fact that it will link up at Semipalatinsk with the projected Turkestan railway from Tashkent to Vierny across the Semiretchensk steppes, it will thus have strategical importance in connecting Turkestan with Siberia; and economic importance in connecting the undeveloped districts of Western Siberia with Europe. Construction will probably begin simultaneously from the Siberian railway at Novo-nikolaevsk and from the Central Asian railway near Tashkent, and extend respectively southward and northward till the lines meet eventually at Semipalatinsk.[1]
The second important railway project, which will have much effect on the development of Western Siberia, is the extension of the North Siberian line. This line runs at present from Perm, the last provincial town in European Russia, across the Urals,
- ↑ Recent developments have led to the actual commencement of the Novikolaefsk-Barnaul line, while the Omsk-Semipalatinsk section has been abandoned. Instead, a survey has been started for a South-Siberian trunk line connecting Oralsk, Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk across the Kirghig steppes.
