History of “Pakistan Railways"

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Rail Motor Car At Landi Kotal Railway Station, Khyber Pass, 1920's (c).



1980's

 

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An Under Construction Railway Tunnel Near Landi Kotal, Khyber Pass, 1923 (c).


just consider how less resours they had but still they dug perfet tunnels.

A Tunnel Beyond Landi kotal Khyber Pass Railway, 1920's (c).

 

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Lahore Junction railway station was built during the British Raj between 1859 -1860 in the typical grand architectural style of the British Raj period and is a lasting legacy of the extensive railway network established by the British and their contribution to the infrastructure of the region.

The station was commissioned by the British Government and construction was contracted to Mian Mohammad Sultan Chughtai, a formal prince of the Royal Mughal Empire. The front portion was disliked by the government and was subsequently rebuilt by Sultan Mohammad

 

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Waziristan Campaign, 1919-1920 (c).

A train carrying British troops leaves Kalabagh in Mianwali, a town on the Indus River around 100 miles from Waziristan. The majority of these railways were built by the British after conquering India.


Narrow guage railway line upto Laki Marwat.Onwards by road..

Mari Indus Railway Station, Mianwali, 1910's (c).

 

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Paikhel Station, Circa 1912. The Only Fortified Station On This Mari-Kalabagh Line.

Paikhel is a town and union council, an administrative subdivision, of Mianwali District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is part of Mianwali Tehsil.

Picture Courtesy - Muhammad Khattak

 

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Karachi Cantonment Railway Station

It Is one of the principal railway stations in Karachi, Sindh.
It is situated near Dr. Daudpota Road, Saddar. It was earlier known as Frere Street Station. Construction of the station began in 1896 and was completed in 1898.

 

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Due to military/strategic concerns for securing British India's border with Afghanistan, North Western State Railway was formed in 1886. Khayber Pukhtunkhwa (NWFP) was part of Punjab then. The Railway Station sign boards were written in English, Urdu & Punjabi in Gurmukhi script.

 

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The North-Western Railway Volunteer Rifles on their bicycle trolley looking out for train wreckers, Lahore, 1901 (c).

This Image Is Restored And Watermarked By East India Company And Raj Research Group.

Source - The Navy and Army Illustrated.

 

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Lahore, 1914..

View of a train passing through a tunnel in Bolan Pass area, Baluchistan.

A view of Kojak Tunnel near Shela Bagh Railway Station in Baluchistan This tunnel is 3.91km long.

 

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Ice blocks are being loaded on Frontier Mail to keep the Air-conditioned compartments cool.

Frontier Mail was the first air-cooled train in India. The train was equipped with air-conditioning in the year 1934. Cold air was ducted into the compartments by the fans blowing air over blocks of ice that needed to be replenished at various stations.

 

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The idea of a rail network was first thought of in 1847, with the possibility of Karachi becoming a major seaport. Sir Henry Edward Frere, who was appointed as the Commissioner of Sindh, sought permission from Lord Dalhousie to begin a survey for a Karachi Seaport and a survey for a railway line in 1858.

The proposed railway line would be laid from Karachi (city) to Kotri. A steamboat service on the Indus and Chenab rivers would connect Kotri to Multan and from there another railway line would be laid to Lahore and beyond.

On 13 May 1861, the first railway line was opened to the public, between Karachi and Kotri, with a total length of 169 kilometres (105 mi). A Lahore-Multan 336 kilometres (209 mi) railway line was opened for traffic on 24 April 1865. On 6 October 1876 three bridges on the Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum rivers were completed and a Lahore-Jhelum railway line opened. On 1 July 1878 a Lodhran-Pano Akil 334 kilometres (208 mi) section was inaugurated.

By 1885, there were four railway companies operating in what would become Pakistan: Scinde (Sindh) Railways, Indian Flotilla Company, Punjab Railway and Delhi Railways. These were amalgamated into the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railways Company and purchased by the Secretary of State for India in 1885, and in January 1886 formed the North Western State Railway, which was later on renamed North Western Railway (NWR). It was renamed Pakistan Western Railway in February 1961 and Pakistan Railways in May 1974.

It was the year 1857 when the idea was suggested by William Andrew (Chairman of Scinde, Punjab and Delhi Railway) that the railways to the Bolan Pass would have a strategic role in responding to any threat by Russia. During the second Afghan War (1878–80) between Britain and Afghanistan, there was a new need to construct a railway line up to Quetta in order to get easier access to the frontier.

On 18 September 1879, under the orders of the Viceroyal council, work begun on laying the railway tracks, and after four months the first 215 km of line from Ruk to Sibi was completed; it became operational in January 1880. Beyond Sibi the terrain was very difficult. After immense difficulties and harsh weather conditions, it was March 1887 when the railway line, over 320 km long, finally reached Quetta.

On 27 October 1878 a Kotri-Sukkur railway line on west bank of Indus river was opened for traffic. The Lansdowne Bridge over the Indus connecting Rohri and Sukkur was inaugurated on 25 March 1889. The completion of this bridge connected Karachi with Peshawar by rail.

By 1898, as the network began to grow, another proposed railway line from Peshawar to Karachi was in the works. It closely followed the route taken by Alexander the Great and his army while marching through the Hindu Kush to the Arabian Sea.

During the early 20th century, railway lines were also laid down between Peshawar and Rawalpindi and Rawalpindi to Lahore.

Different sections on the existing main line from Peshawar and branch lines were constructed in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 20th century.

In 1947, at the time of independence, 3,133 route kilometres (1,947 mi) of the North Western Railway were transferred to India, leaving 8,122 route kilometres (5,048 mi) to Pakistan. Of this 6,880 route kilometres (4,280 mi) were 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in), 506 kilometres (314 mi) were 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in), and 736 kilometres (457 mi) were 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge.

In 1954, the railway line was extended to Mardan and Charsada, and in 1956 the Jacobabad-Kashmore 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge line was converted into 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in). In 1961, the Pakistani portion of North Western Railways was renamed Pakistan Railways.

The Kot Adu-Kashmore line was constructed between 1969 and 1973 providing an alternative route from Karachi to northern Pakistan. In February 2006 the Mirpur Khas-Khokhrapar 126 km metre gauge railway line was converted to Indian gauge.

https://www.facebook.com/Photo-Arch...xuLYRrm_paGkeOF_orWVDt6jtAPsIhXR&__tn__=*bH-R

 

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Cantonment Railway Station Karachi c.1913

 

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North Western Railway - British military train on the way from Nowshera to Rawalpindi (Punjab) - 9th Middlesex Regiment.

 

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The first engine to draw a train over the new Khyber railway : passing through the gateway at Jamrud on its way to Landi Kotal on the Afghan border, Khyber Pass, 2nd Nov 1925.

 

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Locomotives And Train In The Khyber Pass Near Landi Kotal, 1929 (c)..

© Historical Railway Images.