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Abstract

TRANSSIB is considered a great event in the history of civilization, standing in one raw with discovering America and construction of Suez Canal. Only after the construction of this railway Russian might started really increasing with the help of Siberia. Having beaded on its line Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, TRANSSIB interfered energetically in the life of these towns, giving such a great impulse to their sweeping growth, which maybe they will not get any more in the future. Being a channel of civilization, it has imbued Siberia with powerful intellectual stream, which, having quickly grown stronger on the fertile field, soon started giving replenishment to the mother country in return.

For us, who live in Siberia, the past of TRANSSIB looks like a legend, the present like a life, the future like a dream. In Batenkov's thoughts it was pictured like «addition of a desert land to the educated world», however, in the Soviet period the economic development of this land had an obvious colonization character. «Riches of Siberia – for the Motherland» – this was the slogan to fill us with enthusiasm. However, even at that time we guessed that it would be fairly to leave some of the riches to those who lived here and mined them. After the political and economical orientation of the country was changed, the reins of government became weaker, but the private interest, laying its hands on Siberia, has the same slogan.

We had better hope that the sensible principle will prevail, our land will be considered a Motherland too, and TRANSSIB will work for the welfare of the lands it is lying through.