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Orders for a feasibility survey for ==Background==It was the year 1857 when the '''Bolan Pass idea was suggested by William Andrew (Chairman of Scinde, Punjab and Delhi Railway''' were first issued by ) that the British Government in 1876. Work on the construction of railways through to the Bolan Pass started would have strategic role in 1880 but responding to any threat by Russia. During the second Afghan War (1878–80) between Britain and Afghanistan, a new urgency was soon stopped after laying of 31km track due needed to construct a Railway line up to the occurrence of famous [[Battle of MaiwandQuetta]] in order to get easier access to the areafrontier.<ref name=prac.mac>This was described as the '''[[http://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/afghanistan/elephants-carrying-locomotives-through-the-bolan-pass/ "Elephants carrying locomotives through the Bolan Pass" Scientific American, 15 August 1885, quoted at Practical Machinist‘s Antique Machinery and History ForumQuetta Link Railway]]; Posted 28 March 2010;Retrieved 10 Dec 2015</ref>''' ''(see for more information)''

Orders for a feasibility survey for the '''Bolan Pass Railway''' were first issued by the British Government in 1876 <ref name=Mugal>[http://pakistaniat.com/2006/08/23/railways-through-bolan-pass/ "Railway line through the Bolan Pass By Owais Mughal" published by 'All Things Pakistan', 23 Aug 2006]; Retrieved 5 Dec 2016</ref>.  On 18 September 1879, under the orders of Viceroy council, work begun on laying the railway tracks and after four months the first 134 miles (215 km) of line from [[ Ruk]] was completed and become operational in January 1880 reaching [[Sibi]] on 2 May 1880 <ref name=Admin1918>[https://archive.org/stream/BombayBarodaAndCentralIndiaRailwaySystem/Bombay_Baroda_And_Central_India_Railway_System#page/n117/mode/1up “Administration Report on Railways 1918” page 108 (pdf117)]; Retrieved 5 Dec 2016</ref>.  Work on the construction of railways through the Pass started in 1880 but was soon stopped after laying of 31km track due to the occurrence of the famous [[Battle of Maiwand]] in the area. [[File:Bolan Pass Railway Construction.jpg|thumb|Bolan Pass Railway Construction - early 1880's using Elephants to transport the Decauville railway components]]Work restarted in 1885 shortly after using by rapidly laying a rail track in the bed of the river Bolan and finally a steam locomotive rolled into [[Quetta]] in August of 1886. The 1885 account given in Practical Machinist <ref name=prac.mac>[http://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/afghanistan/elephants-carrying-locomotives-through-the-bolan-pass/ "Elephants carrying locomotives through the Bolan Pass" – ‘Scientific American’, 15 August 1885; Posted 28 March 2010]; Retrieved 5 Dec 2016</ref> states ‘This railroad is of the Decauville system, formed in sections of small steel rails, which can be put down or taken up very quickly.... the locomotive made in two parts, the larger of which weighed on 3,978 pounds, the greatest weight that an elephant can carry”<ref name=prac.mac/>.  [[Francis Langford O'Callaghan]], posted from the [[State Railways]], was "engineer ‘Engineer in chief Chief’ for a number of demanding railway projects, surveys and constructios constructions on India's north-west frontier .. including.. the Bolan line through the Bolan Pass to Quetta, 1885-86" <ref>[http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/bdoceigbai.58347.457 Institution of Civil Engineers "Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland - O'Callaghan, Francis Langford "]; Retrieved on 13 Jul 2016</ref>.

The present day railway track through the Bolan Pass is the third attempt of laying railways through the pass and is still operational. At some places along the track one can see the abandoned tunnels and the rail bed of two earlier attempts of laying railways here<ref name=Mugal/>.

[[Category:State Railways]]