The importance of transport routes connecting the center of European Russia with Arctic ports followed from the military and diplomatic vulnerability of the Black Sea and Baltic communications. The first project of a private railroad connecting Yaroslavl with Arkhangelsk dates from 1868, but only the Yaroslavl-Vologda part of the line was completed in 1872. In the 1890s the government turned its attention to the strategic importance of northern railroads. The Society of the Moscow-Yaroslavl-Vologda Raiload under the direction of S. A. Mamontov constructed the narrow gauge line from Volodga to Arkhangelsk by 1898. Only in 1915, in response to the wartime emergency, was the railroad upgraded to wide gauge.