Indus Valley State Railway

Indus Valley State Railway

The Indus Valley State Railway(IVSR) was to provide a rail link between 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 had been built by the ’ Scinde Railway Company’ and opened in 1861 .
• The broad gauge(BG) line from Lahore to Mooltan((Multan) built by the ’Punjaub Railway Company’, opened in 1865 .

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 .

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

The route involved the crossing of two great Rivers:-

• The River Sutlej between Adamwahan and Bahawalpur - the Sutlej Bridge (which became the Empress Bridge when opened in 1878)
• The River Indus between Sukkur and Rohri – the Sukkur Bridge (which became the Lansdowne Bridge when opened in 1889)

The ‘Sutlej Bridge’ was completed in March 1878 and inaugurated on 7th June 1878 to be renamed the ’Empress Bridge’ - see separate page .

On the 1st July 1878 the IVSR line was officially opened for traffic from Mooltan down to Kotri and in full operation on the 27th October 1878, except for the River Indus crossing linking Sukkur to Rohri where the a ferry was used whilst the engineering challenge of the ‘Sukkur Bridge’ was under construction.

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.

Contents

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