Southern Punjab Railway


The Southern Punjab Railway was a broad gauge railway built to provide a more direct connection from Karachi to Delhi by linking to the original Indus Valley State Railway at Samasata and avoiding the North Western Railway loop via Lahore.

History

The Southern Punjab Railway Company was formed in 1895 with Bradford Leslie as Chairman. Under contract with the Secretary of State for India, Leslie and his partners formed the company to build a BG railway from Delhi to Samasata about 400 miles to the west. Horace Bell was the Consulting Engineer for SPR in London for the construction.,
The main line ran north west from Delhi to Bathinda then south west through Bahawalpur State to Samasata, a total distance of 402 miles. Several extension lines extended the length to 502 miles in 1905. In 1873, metre gauge Delhi-Rewari line from the Delhi-Rewari section of Rajputana-Malwa Railway was extended to Hisar, and then to Bhatinda in 1883–84, connecting it all the way to Karachi via Delhi-Karachi line.
The railway was worked by the North Western State Railway. The railway eventually became part of Indian Railways.

Network

The listings below are generally based on the "Administration Report on Railways 1918" with page numbers noted at the end of each entry.
Mainline and branches BG Total line length 426 miles. Page 121
Jullundur–Doab Extension Railway BG Total line length 130 miles. Page 123
Ludhiana Extension Railway BG Total line length 152 miles. Page 123
Sutlej Valley Extension Railway BG Total line length 208 miles. Pages 124-5
Ludhiana–Dhuri–Jakhal Railway BG Total line length 79 miles. Page 115