The line from [M 013 / Irkutsk to Port Baikal] was begun in the summer of 1896 and completed with great difficulty. Earlier surveys conducted in haste during the previous winter did not prepare the chief engineer, [I 005 / Pushechnikov], for the difficult terrain.
A shelf needed to be dynamited for the line's roadbed on the steep valley sides of the Angara River and along a 40-mile stretch of track, 50 [V 006 / wooden bridges] needed to be constructed. Retaining walls also needed to be built against the river's seven-feet-per-second current to support the soft earthen banks of the trackbed. [P 033 / Lake Baikal] was not reached until the end of 1897, but construction was so makeshift that it could not open to regular traffic until the mid-summer of 1900.
[V 008 / Lake Baikal] and its surrounding [V 004 / mountainous terrain] was the most challenging barrier on the whole Trans- Siberian. In 1893 it was decided this short stretch of the railway would be prohibitively expensive to build and was shelved in favor of a ferry link.
In 1895 a combined ice-breaker and train ferry was ordered from the English firm of Armstrong and Mitchell at Newcastle on Tyne. Upon completion it was dismantled and shipped to St Petersburg where it was further broken down into 7,000 pieces and hauled by train, barge and sled to the lake. In July of 1899 the ship was launched as the `[I 007 / Baikal],' while the previous year a smaller ferry, the `Angara,' was also ordered from Armstrong and Mitchell.
The ferries could handle ice up to four feet thick and accommodate more than 900 passengers. However, this was less than ideal, for in winter and spring the ice became too thick and the ships were icebound. This problem turned acute during the Russo-Japanese War when rails had to be run out across the ice to keep troops and supplies from being stalled at the lake.
