The author of the article reviews features of the state policy in the sphere of the railroad development on the border of XIX-XX centuries. This period is characterized by the intensiveness of the spread of this kind of transport in Russia. Railway transport is the main one in the country. The challenges of the XX century, including direct and indirect attributes of forthcoming globalization processes, and the strategic motivation lead Russia to а development of the railway network. Some of the railroads were of a transit meaning. Fast railway’s development on the border of the centuries was driven by their high military and strategic value. The construction of the railroads was carried out in the central parts of Russia and on the outskirts. Russian railways of the reviewed period had some features, which let them take a special place among the railway systems of the other countries.
