Scinde Railway
The Scinde Railway Company was first established by deed of settlement in March 1855 and incorporated by Act of Parliament in July 1855. The company contracted with the Government of India(GoI) to construct a line between Karachi (formerly Kurraches) and Kotree. The company was granted a 5% return on investment up to a maximum of £1 million in order to build the 120-mile line.
Work commenced in April 1858 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).
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. An Act of 1857 granted it the opportunity to extend its operations.
In 1870, the Scinde Railway Company was amalgamated with the Punjab Railway and Delhi Railway Companies and renamed as the Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway.
In 1885 The Scinde Railway, the Indus Flotilla, the Punjab Railway and the Delhi Railway, working as a single company, were amalgamated to create the Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway and the company was purchased by the Secretary of State for India
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
References
- IRFCA - Scinde Railway Company - http://www.irfca.org/docs/history/ir-uklaw-scinde.html
- Acts Covered: Scinde Railway Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c.clx)
- Scinde Railway Company's Amalgamation Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c.lxxx)
- Scinde, Punjaub and Delhi Railway Purchase Act 1886 (49 & 50 Vict. c.xlii)
Further Reading
Brunton, John, The Diary of John Brunton, Engineer, East India Railway Company, Karchi: City Press, 1997. ISBN 99-8380-03-5. (Reprint version). Originally printed by Cambridge University Press, 1939. The Introduction to the book is available in Preview Google Books
Online
Books
- The Scinde railway, and its relations to the Euphrates valley, and other routes to India by W P Andrews, Chairman of the Scinde Railway Company 1856 Google Books
- Report of proceedings of an extraordinary general meeting of the Scinde Railway Company, held on Friday the 24th July, 1857 Google Books
- Brunton, John, Description of the Line and Works of the Scinde Railway. 1863. Available in Full View Google Books or pdf from Panhwar.com
Articles
- Karachi to Kotri: The First Railways in Pakistan. 17/09/2009. All things Pakistan, now an archived website
- Mughal, Owais, Start of Pakistan Railways. 17/09/2009. Light within
Records
Refer to the Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway.
Notes
1 "Money Market and City Intelligence", The Times, Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.
