FIGURE 5.28 Siberian Russia subregion. (A) The Trans-Siberian Railway is the main connection between Siberia and western Russia. Novosibirsk’s main railway station is a hugely important fixture in the city’s downtown area. With 1.5 million people, Novosibirsk is Russia’s third-largest city, after Moscow and St. Petersburg, yet it is extremely isolated from other large cities. It takes about 50 hours by train to get from Novosibirsk to Moscow, which lies more than 1600 miles to the west. Chelyabinsk, the next largest city with over a million people, lies more than 800 miles to the west. Courtesy Simon Richmond/Lonely Planet Images/Getty Images