Modernization of railway transport in the Southern Urals in the late XIX - early XX centuries

The article reveals the problem of formation of the railway system of the Southern Urals in connection with its intensive industrial development in the late XIX - early XX centuries. New railway lines connected Ural metallurgical plants with coal and iron ore deposits, opening new exits from the Urals to Siberia, the Volga region and the western provinces of Russia. The author has revealed four main stages of development of the railway system of the Southern Urals: at the first stage lines were built to serve Zlatoust artillery factories, at the second stage the construction of approaches to the Siberian railroad through the Southern Urals was carried out, at the third stage the construction was connected with the resettlement policy of P.A. Stolypin, at the fourth stage long lines were built in a short period of time, connected with the strengthening of delivery of raw materials to defense factories in the conditions of the First World War. Conclusion dwells upon the fact that in the South Urals the struggle of two concepts of transport development of the region was most sharply manifested - the Urals as a transit corridor between European and eastern regions of the country and the Urals as a self-sufficient transport system, satisfying, first of all, the demands of the local economy and population.