William Patrick Andrew

William Patrick Andrew (c.1807-1887), director of the East Indian Railway and founder of the Scinde Railway Company, later to become the Scinde, Punjab and Delhi Railway. Born in Aberdeenshire, and was educated at Edinburgh and Oxford.

Railway Achievements

• 1855; The Government granted a concession Mr W P Andrew and the ‘Scinde Railway Company’ was formed under the Guarantee system. The concession included under its management  :-
  • the line from Kurrachee(Karachi) to Hyderabad upon the Indus - the ‘Scinde Railway’;
  • the line from Moultan(Multan) to Lahore and Umritisir(Amritsar) - the ‘Punjaub Railway’
  • a flotilla of steam boats to complete the through communication the ‘Indus Steam Flotilla’
• 1856; concluded an arrangement with the Home Government for the establishment of telegraphic communication with India, and in the following year he advocated on strategic grounds the construction of lines to the Bolan and the Khyber .
• 1862; another concession was granted to the the ‘Scinde Railway Company’:-
  • the ‘Delhi Railway’, being an extension of the line from Umritisir(Amritsar) to Delhi, where it formed a junction to the northern terminus of the ‘East Indian Railway .
• 1870; ‘Scinde, Punjaub and Delhi Railway Company’ was formed with Mr A P Andrew as Chairman by amalgamating the ‘Scinde Railway’, the ‘Punjab Railway’ and ‘Delhi Railway’
• 1873; be led the discussion on the question of the gauge of Indian railways - a subject he had already treated in pamphlets - at the meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, when a resolution in favour of his views with regard to a gauge of 5ft. 6in. was passed by a large majority
• 1878; In treating of the connection of the Khyber and Bolan Passes with the railway system of India, the 'Times October 13th, 1878, said:- "Had the views so persistently advocated by Mr. Andrew, repeatedly brought forward by us, been adopted at the commencement of the struggle last October, as we then ventured to insist upon, vast sums would have been spared in the hire of transport, and we should have been spared the ignominy of feeling that a British army, nominally on active service, has occupied five weeks in covering less than seventy miles."
• 1879; Sir W. Andrew was chairman of the Stafford House Committee for promoting the construction of a railway from the Persian Gulf to Constantinople and the Mediterranean. Sir W. Andrew to the last took an interest in everything relating to the East and he was a Fellow of many scientific societies .

1882; knighted when he received the Companionship of the Order of the Indian Empire .