What does Siberia have in common with the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and the Hoover Dam?

All were named in the top 25 of 'mankind's greatest engineering achievements'. AS CNN say: 'The full journey starts in Moscow and ends in Vladivostok, but passengers can join at numerous towns and cities en route.'

Other epic engineering triumphs are The London Underground, the Palm in Dubai, the Panama Canal and the International Space Station. The list of engineering masterpieces takes into account 'the era in which they were built and the knowledge and materials that were available to the designers'.

The list comes as it is announced that the Trans-Siberian board-gauge railway could reach Vienna in future in a move aimed at opening up new cargo possibilities to and from the EU. The heads of railway companies from Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia and Austria last week signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the planned extension of the Trans-Siberian broad-gauge railway route to Vienna. 

The next next step is a study and business model of the project. 

'The study is supposed to be ready by the end of 2013, the final decision concerning the project could then be made in the middle of 2014', said Vladimir Yakunin, the head of RZD (Russian Railways).

'In case of implementation of the project, a cargo terminal for about EUR 800 million is planned in the area of Vienna,' said the head of Austrian railways, Christian Kern. The total cost of the project is estimated at EUR 6 billion (USD 7.73 billion).