Stretching 1,130 miles from [M 003 / Novonikolayevsk to Irkutsk], this was the longest section of the Trans-Siberian. Like the West Siberian, it was built in two sections from the [M 014 / River Ob to Krasnoyarsk] on the west bank of the River Yenisei and from [M 042 / Krasnoyarsk to the outskirts of Irkutsk].
The engineer in charge, Mezheninov, hurriedly explored part of the terrain from 1887 to 1888. He was under instructions to complete the first section to Krasnoyarsk by 1896 and the second was to reach Irkutsk by 1900. But in the fall of 1893 a high-ranking engineer was sent to inspect the work begun in early summer. Returning from his tour in early November, he reported the Mid-Siberian could be completed two years earlier than planned. This prompted a meeting of the railway committee to work out a new timetable for construction. In May 1894 a new plan was approved at the urging of Witte for an accelerated program that would link Russia with Vladivostok by 1899.
Construction on the first stage was begun in 1893. As with the West Siberian, there was a dearth of indigenous building material. All supplies needed to be shipped from Russia and the Urals via the roundabout [L3 302 / river route] until a western rail connection could be made (the [V 007 / Yenisei bridge] was built from cast steel transported from the Urals, cement from St Petersburg and steel bearings from Warsaw 3,500 miles away).
Carts and horses were in short supply and local labor was practically impossible to recruit in a land inhabited on average by one person per square mile. Still short on manpower a year later, Mezheninov enlisted 1,500 [L3 303 / convicts] from a prison near Irkutsk to fell trees, build earthworks and construct wooden bridges. Progress would have been quicker if the Post Road from the Ob River to Tomsk was followed, but it was decided to bypass Tomsk. This necessitated hacking a 250-foot path through the virgin forest of the [L3 304 / Siberian taiga] to reduce the potential of forest fires from locomotive sparks.
To meet the goals of the accelerated program, Mezheninov sent a crew ahead to start the second leg in the summer of 1894. To complete it as quickly as possible, the engineers risked train safety by reducing ballast, narrowing the base of [V 006 / embankments], and increasing the angle of curves and gradients. This construction was economical, but an unexpectedly large number of bridges had to be built - 82 in one section of 44 miles - dramatically increasing costs. In January of 1898 the Ob-Krasnoyarsk section opened to regular traffic. With the arrival of the first official train in Irkutsk on August 28 of that same year, the Mid-Siberian was nearly complete. Regular traffic commenced the following January. A [L3 305 / short distance remained to reach the shore of Lake Baikal].
