Lahore & Peshawar Railway

The Lahore & Peshawar Railway in the Punjab was first surveyed in 1857-58 by deployment of a team of Engineers from the Sind Railway Company . The construction did not proceed and years of political and military debate followed.

Finally the Punjab Northern State Railway opened the line in stages from 1868 and from 1886 became North Western Railway (NWR) NWR Lahore-Peshawar Mainline

NWR Lahore-Peshawar Mainline

• ‘Lahore to Peshawar Section’, 288 miles (463km), was the Punjab Northern State Railway until amalgamation into NWR in 1886. The first section from Lahore to Jhelum, opened 1873 as metre gauge(MG) and converted to BG, 1878; from Jhelum via Rawalpindi the onward connection to Peshawar, was made in 1883 with the completion of the Attock Bridge over the river Indus.
  • ‘Tawi Branch Line’, was completed in 1890. The 26 miles(42km) from Wazirabad (a town on the ‘Lahore to Peshawar Section’, to Sialkot, opened 1884 by PNSR . Extended by NWR in 1890 by 9 miles(14km) to the ‘Frontier of Kashmir State’ where the Jammu and Kashmir Railway continued the railway a further 16 miles(26km) to the ‘Left Bank of the Tawi River near Jammu’. The 25 mile(40km)section is in some records referred to as the Jammu-Sialkot Railway. The complete line from Wazirabad to Jammu, a total of 51 miles(82km) was part of the NWR network until partition when the line was severed.

See also North Western Railway - Lines operated and worked

History

There was no further progress until 1866 when the military logistics of the Punjab was being considered. A letter from Cranbourne to Lawrence carries the following IOR Contents note:- ' ..proposes to suspend work on Peshawar barracks, pending construction of Lahore-Peshawar railway, and in view of unhealthiness of area, cost, and uncertainty regarding number of troops required to be stationed there; asks whether Peshawar valley could be held with native troops in ordinary times; Council divided whether railway should be built by Govt or Guaranteed Company;...'

Finally, following further exchanges, as can be seen from the IOR Records, in 1868 a team of Government of India(GoI) appointed Engineers (see ‘Personnel’) commenced construction.

Political and military debate continued even once construction had begun as see in the IOR Contents note:- ‘Need for early decision on gauge of Indus Valley railway line since it impinges on question whether Lahore-Peshawar line should be standard or narrow gauge; outlines arguments for narrow gauge on both these lines including military implications; asks Argyll to see Col Strachey on subject’.

Following further exchanges, the line was constructed by the of Government of India(Government of India(GoI). The Punjab Northern State Railway(PNSR) was created in 1870-71 to construct and operate the railway from Lahore to Peshawar.

Several major bridges required construction to complete the PNSR line between from Lahore and Peshawar:-

• Jhelum Bridge, over the River Jhelum at Jelum, started in 1871 by the British engineer William St. John Galwey and opened in 1873
• Alexandra Bridge, over the River Chenab between Wazirabad and Gujraat Pakistan. Construction started in 1871; Engineer-in-Charge Francis Joseph Edward Spring and opened 1876 by Edward VII the King-Emperor when he was Prince of Wales.
• Ravi Bridge, over the River Ravi situated between Sadiq Pura, Lahore and Shahdara Bagh. The construction work on this bridge was started in 1871; Engineer-in-Charge Francis Joseph Edward Spring and completed in 1876.
• Attock Bridge, over in River Indus. Construction started 1880; Chief Engineer was Francis Langford O'Callaghan; completed 1883.

The section from Jhelum to Rawalpindi , 76 miles(122km), opened 1873 as a metre gauge(MG) line. This was converted to MG, converted to broad gauge(BG) in 1878 .

The BG line from Lahore to Jhelum, 103 miles(166km), opened 1878, thus taking the BG line north-eastward to Rawalpindi and reaching the Indus river in 1881. The line from Peshawar had reached the left bank of Kiarabad on the left bank of the Indus river in May 1882.

Lahore and Peshawar , 468 miles(753 km), were finally connected in 1883 with the completion of the Attock Bridge over River Indus and became the Punjab Northern State Railway (PNSR). The PNSR was transferred to the newly formed Railway Board, becoming the first railway in India to be nationalised the under the control of the Government of India(GoI). Shortly after, on 1 Jan 1886, the was formed from the amalgamation of the PNSR with others.

Personnel

Also 10 names of Engineers for year 1868 are found by ‘Search’ on IOR Records for Lahore and Peshawar Railway. These engineers were deployed from the Public Works Department:-

• L/F/8/6/576; Glinn, George James Hervey Engineer
• L/F/8/7/632; Kelsey, Walter Engineer
• L/F/8/6/513; Bull, Charles Albert 4th Class Executive Engineer
• L/F/8/8/753; Storey, Henry Francis 3rd Class Executive Engineer
• L/F/8/7/637; Lambert, Henry 2nd Class Executive Engineer
• L/F/8/6/571; Gallott, Joseph Louis 2nd Class Executive Engineer
• L/F/8/8/752; Stokes, James Folliott 1st Class Executive Engineer
• L/F/8/7/613; Hogarth, David Francis 3rd Class Executive Engineer
• L/F/8/7/638; Digges-la-Touche, Henry Christopher 2nd Class Executive Engineer

Further Information

See Punjab Northern State Railway for information from 1868-86. and North Western Railway from 1886