16 French writers travelled from Moscow to Vladivostok following Blaise Cendrars in a bid to strengthen Franco-Russian relations. Check out the SNCF footage...

'We had stolen the treasure of Golkonda, and were taking the Tran-Siberian Railway to hide it on the other side of the world.' This extract from a poem by Blaise Cendrars written in 1913 says it all - he was fascinated with the Tran-Siberian Railway, which he only ever took in his dreams, and with the dizzying idea of crossing a vast area of land that defies imagination. So now a train called the 'Blaise Cendrars' is setting out on a grand literary adventure along the legendary railway, with 16 French language writers on board.

The same carriage is hosting Patrick Deville, Jean Echenoz, Mathias Enard, Dominique Fernandez, Sylvie Germain, Guy Goffette, Maylis de Kerangal, Minh Tran Huy, Wilfried N'Sondé, Jean-Noël Pancrazi, Olivier Rolin, Danièle Sallenave and Eugène Savitzkaya. They are taking their books with them and a bilingual anthology of extracts from their works to share with the Russian authors, students and locals that they will be meeting at the nine stops along their 9,000 km journey. The SNCF filmed the fantastic and happy journey of the 'Blaise Cendrars', which seemed like it would never end. And you can watch the footage!

As well as sponsoring the 2010 Year of France & Russia, the SNCF is looking to the future, with new services to fuel the dreams of readers and writers: a Paris-Moscow connection which is moving forward thanks to the combined drive of the SNCF & RGD, the Nice-St Petersburg line which is due to reopen soon and the twinning of Vladivostok and Marseille Saint Charles stations, marked by the arrival on 14 June of the Trans-Siberian Express in Vladivostok, the furthest corner of the continent we share.