Аннотация:The issue of the Trans-Siberian Railway construction attracts the researchers' attention constantly.It is due to the role that the railway's impact on the life in Siberia and in the country.The problem of the workers status who worked on the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was also repeatedly raised in the papers of many researchers.The issue attracted scientists as a good example of the class struggle in the Soviet period.At the turn of the XX-XXI centuries the desire to give a new assessment of already known information prevailed, as well as to replenish the existing historiography with new facts.The object of study of this article is the situation on workers of the Trans-Siberian Railway: their quantitative composition in different years, the amount of local residents among the workers, government recruitment measures.The authors have noted that during the construction of the railway, the struggle for labour intensified to some extent.For example, the workers in gold mines, being bound by contractual obligations with gold producers, sought to get a job at the construction of the railway.At the same time, the living conditions of the railway workers left much to be desired.First of all, the remoteness of construction sites from settlements in Siberia had negative consequences.This created certain difficulties in providing workers with food, medical care, and organizing leisure activities.In an effort to replenish the ranks of workers, the government attracted exiled convicts and prisoners to the construction.At later stages of construction, subject to a number of conditions, it was allowed to involve prisoners of war in the work.
