Indus Valley State Railway

Indus Valley State Railway

Spelling Note

• The spellings used for town names in the 1850-60 is variable. We have given the name as stated in the documents of that time and with the later name in (brackets).

Indus Valley State Railway

The Indus Valley State Railway(IVSR) was constructed by the Government to provide a rail link between Kotree(Kotri) and Mooltan((Multan). This was to complete a rail connection from the port of Karachi to Lahore by linking two lines:-

• The broad gauge(BG) line from the coast at Karachi to Kotri , named the ‘Scinde Railway’ had been built by the ‘Scinde Railway Company’ and opened in 1861 .
• The broad gauge(BG) line from Mooltan((Multan) to Lahore, named the ‘Punjaub Railway had been built by the ‘Scinde Railway Company’ and opened in Apr 1865 .

The section between Kotree(Kotri) and Mooltan((Multan) was linked by the ‘Indus Flotilla’ also owned by the ‘Scinde Railway Company’ thus providing a through service from Karachi to Lahore.

The survey of the route of the line commenced in 1870 and construction commenced in 1871 based on the metre gauge(MG) standard. This was changed in 1874 to broad gauge(BG) requiring the sections under construction to be converted .

On the 1st July 1878 the IVSR line was officially opened for traffic from Multan down to Kotri and in full operation on the 27th October 1878 with the opening of the ‘Sutlej Bridge’, completed in March 1878 and inaugurated on 7th June 1878 to be renamed the ‘Empress Bridge’ - see separate page .

At the River Indus crossing linking Sukkur to Rohri a ferry was used whilst the engineering challenge of the ‘Sukkur Bridge’ was under construction. On completion in 1889 this was renamed the ‘Lansdowne Bridge’ - see separate page .

See separate page Indus Valley State Railway - Survey and Construction for full details of the survey and construction.

Background

The ‘Scinde Railway Company, with Mr W P Andrew as its Chairman, in about 1863 made application to the Government for a concession to construct a railway between Kotree(Kotri) and Mooltan((Multan) thus to join the 'Scinde Railway' and the 'Punjaub Railway' to provide an unbroken rail link from the coast to the Punjaub(Punjab).

The following is recorded in a letter dated 4 June 1869 to the Duke of Argyll, Secretary of State for India” from Mr W P Andrew, Chairman ‘Scinde Railway Company’ .
“The Secretary of State for India authorised the Scinde Railway Company’, in the year 1863, to engage a staff of engineers for the purpose of surveying the country between Kotree(Kotri) and Mooltan((Multan).

Therefore 6 years had passed and clearly no decision had been reached by the Government authorising the railway to be constructed, meanwhile of course, the ‘Indus Flotilla’ was providing the “missing link” (as it came to be known).

The reasons for the Government to fail to come to a decision are several, all analysed in the later pages of the 4 June 1869 letter. There were three possible routes each with their own “political aspects; the commercial and the engineering features”:-,

• 1st. Entirely on the left bank of the Indus
• 2nd. Entirely on the right bank
• 3rd. On the right bank from Kotree(Kotri) to Sukkur (about half the whole distance) and crossing the Indus River at Sukkur, thence to Mooltan((Multan) by the left bank”.

There were significant differences of opinion on the merits of each route with heated discussions and letters. As a consequence by June 1869 there was still no prospect of a decision. By this time it was clear that the construction of this railway would be a State venture and became named the ‘Indus Valley State Railway’

Later in 1869 the Government of India ordered that a ‘Rail Gauge Committee’ be established in order to recommend the future ‘Rail Gauge’ for the railways of India. There were extreme differences of opinion and the outcome was that the Metre Gauge (MG) would be adopted for all new constructions undertaken by the State .
This highly controversial decision by the ‘Rail Gauge Committee’ is examined in detail on a separate page.

Metre Gauge Survey and Construction

By June 1871 it was reported that the Metre Gauge “Indus Valley Railway ...northern portion had been laid out, and is about to be commenced .... the lower division is beset with difficulties from inundations. A committee is investigating the route on either side of the river, and will report which they consider to be the more favourable . The final route chosen was the the 3rd Route from Kotree(Kotri) crossing the river at Sukkur to Mooltan(Multan) and construction of commenced in Nov 1871.

The construction continued through until July 1974 when Metre Gauge construction was abandoned
See separate page ‘Metre Gauge Construction’ for full details

Break of Gauge Deliberations

Meanwhile the consequences of the break of Gauge from BG to MG at Kotree(Kotri), and MG to BG at Mooltan(Multan) caused heated argument, papers and letters both in London and in India.
These 'Rail Gauge Deliberations' were complex and are the subject of a separate page
But can be summarised as follows:-.

• A debate in the British Parliament in March 1873, after many counter arguments, concluded that the decision should rest with the Government in India.
• A paper by the India Office Public Works Department titled “The relative advantages of the 5ft 6in gauge and of the Metre Gauge for the State Railways of India, and particularly those of the Punjab” was presented at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London in June 1873. This presentation and the following discussion l lasted over seven evenings but failed to reach a conclusion and passed the matter back to the Indian Government .
• The decision was finally reached in 1874 by the Indian Government that changes of Gauge were unacceptable and therefore instructed that the IVSR should be re-engineered to Broad Gauge(BG). As a consequence the sections under construction were to be converted from MG to BG .

Broad Gauge Conversion and Completion

As a consequence, the ‘Middle’ section works were closed, and work was concentrated at both the ‘North’ and ‘South’ Divisions to widen the embankments. In the ‘North’ section the line from Multan to Hamdi was converted to broad gauge(BG) and by April 1876 the line was open to Adamwahan connecting it directly to Calcutta and Bombay. In the ‘South Division’ by 1876 construction was in progress. The ‘Sutlej Bridge’ was completed in March 1878 and inaugurated on 7th June 1878 to be renamed the ‘Empress Bridge’. Finally the IVSR line was in full operation on the 27th October 1878
See separate page ‘Broad Gauge Construction’ for full details

Later History

A Conference was held at Lahore in November 1878 and a proposal was made by the Honourable Member of Council for Public Works to the Officers of the Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway Company (SP&DR), that they should take over the working of the traffic of the Indus Valley State Railway to which the Directors of the Indus Valley State Railway agreed .

In 1886 the North Western Railway(NWR) was formed by the merger of the IVSR with the SP&DR and other railways. The ‘Sukkur Bridge’ was under construction and on inauguration in March 1889 was renamed the ‘Lansdown Bridge’ - see separate page thus providing an unbroken BG route from Lahore to the port of Karachi.

Personnel Records in chronological order

Unfortunately, there are no Indus Valley State Railway (IVSR) Staff agreements held at the British Library in the India Office Records(IOR).

Some of these staff were mentioned at the inauguration of the ‘Sukkur Bridge’ when it was named in 1878 the 'Empress Bridge. See Empress Bridge#Inaugeration for details.

However the following have been identified from other sources:-

• Frederick Ewart Robertson, 1869-70, deployed fromPublic Works Department State Railways Department; 1869-89. 1869, employed on the IVSR survey; 1870, Engineer-in-Charge of the construction division in Upper Sind until the IVSR was opened for traffic in 1877; 1879, In-charge of a sub-division of the IVSR. He established the railway ferry over the Indus at Sukkur. The ferry was successfully worked until it was replaced by the Lansdowne Bridge; 1887, Lansdowne Bridge, of the cantilever type, with a 820 feet(248M) span, involved his design of novel and suitable plant for its erection. The whole of the work was successfully carried out by him, and the bridge was opened in 1889; 1889, appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the IVSR, which included the Khojak Junction under construction; 1889, resigned and became Chief Engineer East Indian Railway .
• Hugh Lewin Monk, 1869-79. 1869 as an Assistant Engineer. Then 1874-79 as Executive Engineer assisting in the construction of the Empress Bridge
• Joseph Bonus, 1870-77, Executive Engineer, Engineer-in-Chief and then Superintending Engineer IVSR .
• James Arthur Anderson, c.1871-c.1890 dates unspecified. Executive Engineer deployed from PWD to IVSR
• William St. John Galwey , c.1872-78, Engineer-in-Chief for the construction of the Empress Bridge, opened in 1878, deployed from the Public Works Department(PWD) Railway Branch.
• C. Campbell , 1872, Engineer-in-Chief, Multan Division .
• J. Collet , 1872, Superintending Engineer, Multan Division .
• R. Heenan, 1872, Executive Engineer, Multan Division .
• W. Scott, 1872, Executive Engineer, Multan Division (Soojabad) .
• F. M. Avern, 1872, Executive Engineer, Multan Division (Satlaj Bridge) .
• H. C. Graham , 1872, Executive Engineer, Multan Division (Bhawalpur) .
• W. Nethersole, 1872, Superintending Engineer, Rohree (Sakkhar) Division .
• T. T. Ryan, 1872, Executive Engineer (Khanpur), Rohree (Sakkhar) Division .
• C. E. Pridden Lieut., 1872, Executive Engineer, Rohree (Sakkhar) Division (Upper Scind) .
• Archibald Cuthbert Bigg-Wither 1872-96?, deployed from Railway Branch to IVSR, dates unspecified ‘Served chiefly on the Indus Valley State Railway' .
• William St. John Galwey, 1873 Engineer-in-charge of the Empress Bridge construction over the River Sutlej.
• Frederick Lewis Dibblee, 1874-78 Superintending Engineer .
• Frederick Nicholas Gutersloh, 1874-78, deployed from PWD - Railway Branch as Assistant Engineer .
• George Winmill, 1875-88 deployed from Public Works Department(PWD) on joining as 2nd sub-Engineer .
• Middleton Rayne, 1876-79, Engineer-in-chief. See British Library India Office Records IOR Mss Eur D904; "Middleton Rayne papers" with the catalogue contents 'Papers of Middleton Rayne (1830-82), Public Works Dept, Government of India 1868-79, Engineer in Chief, Indus Valley State Railway 1876-79, comprising diaries, sketchbooks, letters and photographs; also two diaries, dated 1871 and 1883, of his wife Annie.
• James Condor, 1878-81, Traffic Superintenent IVSR .
• Henry Thomas Geoghegan, 1877-79, Superintending Engineer IVSR .
• Henry Francis Storey, 1879-86. 1879 as Engineer, 1881 as Engineer-in-Chief and promoted to Superintendent of Way and Works until transferred in 1886
• Robert Trefusis Mallet, 1879-80, Engineer-in-Chief IVSR; and 1885-86 Engineer-in-Chief of IVSR Empress Bridge, 1885-86 .
• William Michell, 1883-87, Executive Engineer IVSR where he held charge from time to time of the Jacobabad, Kandahar and Northern divisions .
• James Ramsay, 1880-? Engineer-in-Chief IVSR .

Further Information

• See Indus Valley State Railway - Survey and Construction
• and North Western Railway from 1886 onwards.

External Links

• "Alas, Sindh is now Lost: Indus Valley State Railway" by Salman Rashid March 29, 2013;
• "Administration report on the construction of the (Indus State) Railway" 1878-79. pdf format