Punjab Northern State Railway

Punjab Northern State Railway(PNSR)

The route of what became the PNSR, was first surveyed in 1857 and years of political and military debate followed as described under Lahore & Peshawar Railway .

Finally, following further exchanges, the line was constructed by the of Government of India(GoI). The Punjab Northern State Railway(PNSR) was created in 1870-71 to construct and operate the raiway from Lahore to Peshawar. The first section of the line was opened in 1876 and Lahore and Peshawar connected in 1883 with the completion of the Attock Bridge over the river Indus. It was the first railway in India to have been taken under GOI control in 1886.

Francis Joseph Edward Spring was deployed from the Indian Imperial Civil Service's engineering section in 1873 as Consulting Engineer for the survey of the PNSR and the construction of various parts of that Railway and Bridges. He remained attached to the PNSR until 1878.

Several major bridges required construction to complete the PNSR line between from Lahore and Peshawar:-

• Jhelum Bridge, over the River Jhelum at Jelum, started in 1871 by the British engineer William St. John Galwey and opened in 1873
• Alexandra Bridge, over the River Chenab between Wazirabad and Gujraat Pakistan. Construction started in 1871; Engineer-in-Charge Francis Joseph Edward Spring and opened 1876 by Edward VII the King-Emperor when he was Prince of Wales.
• Ravi Bridge, over the River Ravi situated between Sadiq Pura, Lahore and Shahdara Bagh. The construction work on this bridge was started in 1871; Engineer-in-Charge Francis Joseph Edward Spring and completed in 1876.
• Attock Bridge, over in River Indus. Construction started 1880; Chief Engineer was Francis Langford O'Callaghan; completed 1883.

With others, the Punjab Northern State Railway was merged with the Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway in 1886 to form the North-Western State Railway (later becoming the North Western Railway).

Records

An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this railway gives the following:-

• R/V/24/3590; "Public Works Department: Railways" which includes "Administration report on the construction of the Punjab Northern State Railway, 1877/78 and 1878/79”

Personnel Records

There are no PNSR Staff agreements held at the British Library in the India Office Records.

The following from the Railway Branch of the Public Works Department were deployed to the PNSR

• Henry Francis Storey, 1868-78, Employed on the construction of the Alexandra Bridge over the Chenab river (
• Henry Thomas Geoghegan, 1868, Executive Engineer .
• Robert Trefusis Mallet, 1868, Executive Engineer .
• Hugh Lewin Monk, 1870-73, Assistant Engineer
• Horace Bell, 1874, Executive Engineer during Construction
• Joseph Bonus, 1877-81, Superintending Engineer and Engineer-in-Chief for the construction from Rawalpindi(Pindi) to Peshawar section .
• James Condor, 1875, Executive Engineer .
• Thomas Gracey Col. R.E., 1879, Engineer-in-Chief Pindi-Kohat Section. .
• Frederick Lewis Dibblee, 1879-80, PNSR Engineer-in-Chief, Jhelum division; later Superintending Engineer, Rawal-Pindi(Rawalpindi) section .
• Ernest Lindsay Marryat,1880-86 PNSR Manager .
• Richard Arthur Sargeaunt, 1884-87, PNSR Offg Manager .