I’ve just been re-reading a fascinating book I found whilst browsing dusty shelves in a bookshop in Rawalpindi when I was last in Pakistan (1997). It is called “Adventure Through Khyber” by Victor Bayley … His task: to design and supervise the construction of a railway through the Khyber Pass, a railway which would eventually link far off Bombay to the Afghanistan Border at Landi Khana.
Posts Tagged ‘Pakistan’
“The tribes were very restive and hostile”
Sunday, February 28th, 2010Photos of the Bolan Pass line
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Some 1890 photographs of the Bolan Pass line in what is now Pakistan, at Railways of the Raj.
On his return to India, William secured employment with the North Western Railway as Engineer, and was engaged in reconstructing the railway on the Bolan Pass to Quetta. This line, seen in the picture alongside dating back to 1890, originally laid along valleys, was often washed away in flash floods, and the only way was to raise the track to a height. The credit of handling this onerous task goes to William, and a station called Edgenuga was named after him.
…The pictures you see here are all from William’s album, which David has shared with us. Thank you David for the superb pictures, you sure deserve a treat !!
Quetta to Kandahar feasibility study
Sunday, January 24th, 2010Feasibility report of starting railway service from Quetta to Kandahar okayed
QUETTA: The feasibility report of starting railway service from Quetta to Kandahar has been prepared and sent to the Afghan government and its response is awaited.
This was stated by deputy superintendent of Pakistan Railway Balochistan while addressing a press conference at his office here on Saturday.
More…
Source: Online-International News Network, 2010-01-17
This is the Chaman - Spin Boldak - Kandahar line, which has been under discussion for a very long time.
Steam engine diplomacy
Thursday, January 14th, 2010The politics behind “Pakistan’s gift of a steam engine to UK in 1981 and the interesting story of this loco’s arrival in Manchester” at All Things Pakistan.
The Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester has a page on the loco, Vulcan Foundry 4-4-0 works no. 3064 of 1911, while The Vulcan Foundry Newton-le-Willows “electronic museum” has information on other Vulcan Foundry survivors.
The Pathan borderland in 1910
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010A glance at the network of road and railway communications, which forms an essential feature in the scheme for efficient control, shows how comprehensive are the detailed arrangements for the protection of the North-West Frontier.
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The outbreak of 1897, and the consequent isolation of the Malakand, showed the necessity of a railway line from Nowshera to Dargai; though a broad gauge line would certainly help better to develop the trade which is yearly increasing. The road up the Khyber Pass has been so far improved that heavy guns can go with ease as far as Torkham, on the Afghan border. The broad gauge line extends now to Jamrud. Work on the still incomplete Loi Shilman railway came to a standstill during the late Mohmand expedition. It is finished and ready for use as far as Shahid Miana, about six miles up the Cabul River gorge, beyond Warsak.
The Pathan borderland; a consecutive account of the country and people on and beyond the Indian frontier from Chitral to Dera Ismail Khan, by CM Enriquez, 21st Punjabis (Thacker, Spink & Co, 1910)
China’s interest in Pakistan rail links
Sunday, September 27th, 2009In an article at Asia Times Online, Syed Fazl-e-Haider writes about co-operation between China and Pakistan, including plans to extend the Khyber Pass line and build the Spin Boldak line. There is also discussion of a direct China - Pakistan railway.
Chinese shun Pakistan exodus
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China has also shown interest in early laying a track between the Pakistan border town of Torkham and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, as the Chinese want to use the Pakistan Railways network to transport their goods and equipment for the development of copper mines and various other projects in Afghanistan. Separately, Pakistan Railways has completed a feasibility study for a rail section between Chaman, in Balochistan, and Kandahar in Afghanistan that is part of a proposed link across Afghanistan to Turkmenistan.
Source: Asia Times Online, 2009-09-11
Pakistan - Iran - Turkey container train
Thursday, August 20th, 2009The demonstration Islamabad - Zahedan - Istanbul train started its journey from Pakistan on 14 August 2009.
There are more details of the service (in Turkish) on the TCDD website. The photo is of a Pakistan Railways broad-gauge train. The containers are transhipped between gauges at Zahedan in Iran.
TCDD says the journey is 6566 km - other sources say about 6500 km with 1 900 km in Pakistan, 2 570 km in Iran and 2 036 km in Turkey - and the plan is to carry textile products, cotton, medical hand tools(?), toys, games and sporting goods westbound, with machinery and parts, chemical products, paper and paper products, cars spares and agricultural tools going eastbound.
According to PakTribune the journey “will take 15 days from Pakistan’s federal capital to the Turkish capital”, compared to “40-45 days from Karachi to a Turkish port” (do they really mean the Turkish capital, which is Ankara, or do they actually mean Istanbul, which people often mistakenly think is the capital?).
There is also a suggestion that Pakistan may join OTIF, which provides a common legal framework for international rail operations.
According to Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency, regular services are expected to begin next year.
There are details of the background to the train in an article by Mohammad Mirzaei Kahagh, Director Transport & Communications at ECO, in the May 2009 issue of ECO Times. Despite the photos used in ECO Times, I don’t think Norfolk Southern or Norway’s Flåm railway are involved in the project!
Update: Barrie Hughes of the Welsh Highland Railway construction website has spotted that the tracklaying picture in the ECO Times article shows Cae Pawb mixed gauge crossing on the WHR/Cambrian Coast line in Porthmadog, Wales!
Update: The train reached Tehran on 23 August - Iran Daily has a photo of it. Director of Iran’s Railway Company Hassan Ziyari said the railroad is safer and more environmental friendly compared to the roadways and other transport modes. The duration of the entire journey can be reduced to 12 days in the future, he added, and voiced Iran’s preparedness for cooperating in new plans to expand rail networks of ECO members.
Update: It got to Turkey on 25 August - First train on Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul railway arrives in Turkey
Update: It arrived at Haydarpasa station, Istanbul’s Asian station, on 28 August. 
Medvedev backs rail projects
Monday, August 17th, 2009A Reuters report saying Russia’s President Medvedev backs Afghan railway projects.
Russia aims to spur Afghan region economy, win aid
By Roman Kozhevnikov and Anastasia Onegina
DUSHANBE, July 30 (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday brought together the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and their neighbour Tajikistan to try and spur regional economic recovery and attract huge aid flows.
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“We have a common space, which should be filled with all sorts of projects,” Medvedev said in the Tajik capital after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.“We were talking about energy projects, railway projects,” he told a news conference after talks also attended by Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon.
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Source: Reuters 2009-07-30
Good railways but lousy boundaries
Sunday, August 16th, 2009This is a border with no boundaries, boasting a frontier town with no frontier
, said Jason Burke in describing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman in an article in The Independent published on 21 January 1999: Frontline: Chaman, Pakistan-Afghan frontier - Legacy of the Raj: fine railways and lousy borders.
Even the home secretary in Quetta - the second-most senior civil servant in the province - admits the frontier, effectively created as the western boundary of British India, is a farce: “It is an imaginary border. You Britishers built us good railways but gave us some lousy boundaries.”
Planning a Chaman - Kandahar route
Thursday, August 13th, 2009Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission has used satellite images for Route Selection for Chaman Kandhar Railway Line. The client was Pakistan Railways, but unfortunately there is no date.
Scope of Work:
- To locate feasible route from Chamman, Pakistan to Kandhar, Afghanistan. The route had been marked on the satellite image
- Processing of satellite data. Geo-referencing. Digitization of SRS data for Chamman-Kandhar Railways Route Location and alignment
