Scinde Railway
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. The company contracted with the Government of India (GoI) to construct a line between Karachi and 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. [1] [2]
The Karachi-Kotri (Indus River) Railway 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). [3]
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 [1] 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. This was covered by the ‘Scinde Railway Company's Amalgamation Act‘ of 1869[1]
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
Historical books online
- 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
External links
- Karachi to Kotri: The First Railways in Pakistan. 17/09/2009. All things Pakistan, now an archived website
- History of Rail Transport in Pakistan wikipedia
Records
An on-line search of the India Office Records (IOR) records held at the British Library relating to this railway [4] 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
Further Information
See Karachi-Kotri (Indus River) Railway for period up to 1861.
and Scinde, Punjaub & Delhi Railway following amalgamation in 1885.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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
- ↑ "Money Market and City Intelligence", The Times, Wednesday, 15 June 1859, #23333, 7a.
- ↑ Grace’s Guide “Scinde Railway” Retrieved on 2 January 2016
- ↑ “British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue” - Search; Retrieved 8 Apr 2016
