Scinde Railway

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Scinde Railway

Note

  • Some documents and references refer to the ‘Sind Railway’ which is not the correct spelling.'
  • Not to be confused with the ‘Sind Light Railway’ which is a separate narrow gauge railway.

History

The Scinde Railway Company was first established by deed of settlement in March 1855 and incorporated by the ‘Scinde Railway Act’ of Parliament in July 1855 after which a contract was entered with the East India Company in December 1855. They signed to build a railway from Karachi to Hyderabad, called the Scinde Railway [1]. The company contracted with the Government of India (GoI) to construct the initial section from Karachi to Kotri. The company was granted a 5% return on investment up to a maximum of £1 million in order to build the ‘120 mile’ line [2].

The company was involved in a number of additional railway line projects, as well as the establishment of the Indus Flotilla Company on the river Indus. The ‘Scinde Railway Act' of 1857 [2] granted it the opportunity to extend its operations.

The Karachi-Kotri (Indus River) Railway work commenced in April 1858 to construct the broad gauge(BG) single track railway [3] and on 13 May 1861 succeeded in connecting Karachi to Kotri. This was the first railway line for public traffic between Karachi City and Kotri, a distance of 108 miles (174 km) [4].

This was followed by the request by the ‘Scinde Railway Company’ to build the Punjaub Railway from Lahore to Amritsar [3]. At this time communication in the area had been mainly through the Indus River, the first Steam Boat was the “Indus” and then the “Planet” and “Satellite” were added when the ‘Scinde Railway Company’ agreed to operate Indus Flotilla. They operated between Karachi , Multan and Hyderabad in 1870 lasting until the railway was completed. [5].

On 23 June 1863, The ‘Scinde Railway Company’ raised £2.5 million pounds to build a railway from Amristar to Delhi to be called the Delhi Railway. The railway was to start at or near the terminal at Amritsar and to or near Delhi to carry goods as fast as practicable. [6].

In 1870, the Scinde Railway Company was amalgamated with the Punjab Railway and Delhi Railway Companies and renamed as the Scinde, Punjaub and Delhi Railway Company. This was covered by the ‘Scinde Railway Company's Amalgamation Act‘ of 1869[2]. See Footnote

In 1886, the contracts expired and responsibility for the railway was transferred entirely to the Government of India(GoI). The GoI merged the Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway with other smaller state-owned railways to create the North Western Railway

Footnote

  • The spelling of Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway is variable. Scinde and Punjaub are the spellings adopted in the legislation - see "Government Statute Law Repeals 2012" pages 134-135, paragraphs 3.78-3.83 [2]


Records

An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this railway [7] gives the following:-

  • Z/E/4/25/I53; “Indus River, Railway line to be constructed from Karachi to a point on.”; 1854-55
  • Z/E/4/25/R766; “Rivers, Indus, Railway line to be constructed from Karachi to a point on.”; 1854-55
  • L/AG/46/17/1-13; “1. Scinde Railway Company”; 1855-1878

Personnel

  • John Brunton; 1857, Appointed Chief Resident Engineer of Scinde Railway (Sind Railway) [8]; 1858-62, 'Supervised the construction of the 108 miles(174km) of the Scinde Railway between Karachi and Kotri until its completion in 1862. His detailed "Description of the line and works of the Scinde Railway" [9] itemise the problems of building in the tropics.'
  • William Arthur Brunton, the son of the above; 1857 at age 17, Assistant Engineer; then Area Surveyor on the Scinde Railway (Sind Railway) and the Indus Valley Railway; 1859-1961, responsible for the erection of the thirty-two 45 foot (13.7M) spans of the Bahrun Valley Viaduct [8]. This is the longest bridge on the Karachi-Kotri section and is a viaduct across the Bahrun River. Construction on this bridge was started on 5 March 1859 and completed on 26 January 1861 [10].
  • Willoughby Charles Furnivall District Engineer in charge of construction under John Brunton c.1860-7 [11].

Historical books online

External links

Further Information

See Karachi-Kotri (Indus River) Railway for period up to 1861.

and Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway following amalgamation in 1885.

References

  1. ↑ British Library IOR/L/F/8/10 (853) ‘Contract to build a railway from Kararchee to Hyderabad’, 1855
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 H.M. Government “Statute Law Repeals: Nineteenth Report : Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill; April 2012"; pages 134-135, paragraphs 3.78-3.83 Retrieved on 2 January 2016
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sind Gazette British Library Compiled by E H Atkin Bombay Salt Department. Printed for government at the Steam Press Karachi 1907 Page 344
  4. ↑ Grace’s Guide “Scinde Railway” Retrieved on 2 January 2016
  5. ↑ Sind Gazette British Library Compiled by E H Atkin Bombay Salt Department. Printed for Government at the Steam Press Karachi 1907 Page 354
  6. ↑ British Library IOR/L/F/8/10/845 (855) “Contract to build a railway” 1863
  7. ↑ “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved 8 Apr 2016
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Google Books "The Archaeology of an Early Railway System: The Brecon Forest Tramroads" by Stephen Hughes, page 126; Retrieved 14 Jun 2016
  9. ↑ Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Volume 22, January 1863, pages 451-"Description of the line and works of the Scinde Railway" by John Brunton; Retrieved 14 Jun 2016
  10. ↑ "Karachi to Kotri: The First Railways in Pakistan" by Owais Mughal, 2009; Retrieved 14 Jun 2016
  11. ↑ Institution of Civil Engineers "Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland - Furnivall, Willoughby Charles"; Retrieved on 21 Jul 2016

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