'Military Report on Russian Turkistan or Central Asia' [‎19v] (43/168)

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Central
Asian
Railway.
CHAPTER IV.
Communications.
Central Asian Railway—Orenburg-Tasbrend Railway—
Projected Extensions oe the Railway System—Roads
Waterways — Amu Daria Flotilla — Caspian
Marine— Ports—Telegraphs.
This great ra il wa y, which now extends from the
Caspian Sea almost to the Chinese frontier, owes its
origin to Skobelev’s campaign against the Akhal Tekke
Turkomans in 1880. Its construction was undertaken,
at first, as a light narrow-gauge tramway ; this w^as,
however, soon found to be unsatisfactory and, in
November 1880, the construction of a line of normal
Russian gauge (5 feet) w’as decided on, and by
September 1881 was completed from Michaelovsk on
the Caspian as far as Kizil Arvat, a distance of 143 miles *
The second section of the line, from Kizil Arvat to the
Oxus, Avas undertaken in May 1885, and by the end of
1886 the line had reached the Oxus, at Charjui, a
distance of 498 miles. At the same time the Caspian
terminus of the line was removed to the more convenient
port Uzun Ada, about 18 miles from Michaelovsk.
The third section, from Charjui to Samarkand, a
distance of 228 miles, w'as completed in 1888. This
section involved the bridging of the Oxus with a
temporary wooden bridge nearly two miles long.
In 1894 it was decided to remove the Caspian *
terminus of the line from Uzun Ada to the more
convenient and commodious port of Krasnovodsk. This
involved the construction of 47| miles of additional line.
The work was completed in 189b.
* The work was carried out by the present 1st Trans-Caspian
Railway Battalion, which was raised for this purpose. The
battalion consisted of 25 officers, isO engineer mechanics, and
1,081 rank and file skilled workmen. For the earthwork, Russian
navvies, brought from Europe, and Persians wesre engaged.