West Siberian Railway
The West Siberian Railway (Западно-Сибирская железная дорога) is a stretch of the Trans-Siberian Railway crossing the Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Tomsk, and Altai regions of the Russian Federation as well as a portion of Kazakhstan. The company is headquartered in Novosibirsk and operated by the Russian Railways. The mainline was built between 1892 and 1896 by the Russian imperial government under Sergei Witte. Its railway route length exceeds 6000 km. The Turkestan–Siberia Railway branches off from Barnaul to the south, connecting Siberia to Central Asia. The network has 63 363 employees (as of 2009). Its subdivisions are headquartered in Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Barnaul.