 Omsk acts as an essential transport node, serving as a train station for Trans-Siberian Railway and as a staging post for the Irtysh River.During the Imperial era, Omsk used to be the seat of the Governor General of Western Siberia and, later, of the Governor General of the Steppes.For a brief period during the Russian Civil War in 1918–1920, it served as the capital of the anti-Bolshevik Russian State and held the imperial gold reserves.