Meter-gauge trains stopped 10 years back, but not the salaries of staff

Mirpurkhas, May 26, 2011 (PPI): Train service on narrow meter-gauge railway lines from Mirpurkhas Junction railway station to various towns of the area was stopped almost 10 years ago; however, all staff deputed on the closed railway stations of meter-gauge section still enjoys full monthly salaries and other benefits, without doing any work.

The word ‘gauge’ of a track in railway terminology means the distance between two parallel rails. The network of Pakistan Railway has three gauges viz., Broad Gauge (5' 6? wide), Narrow Gauge (2' 6? wide) and Meter Gauge (3' 3 3/8? or 1000mm wide).

In past the meter gauge railway with a network of 517 kilometer track was considered as the most dependable mode of transport in the desert areas of Sindh province; however, later after the introduction of broad-gauge tracks and extensive network of black-topped roads, this sector slowly withered.

Today, some 325kilomters of meter gauge track is present, albeit in dilapidated state, and after the conversion of main Mirpurkhas - Khokhrapar route to broad gauge now no steam locomotive chugs on this disbanded track. Similarly, the meter gauge track from Mirpurkhas to Nawabshah, Kot Ghulam Muhammad, Dighri, Tando Jan Muhammad, Jhaddo, Roshanabad, Fazal Bhambhro and other towns is no more in active service; however, railway staff is still posted on the disbanded railway stations of the section and getting regular salaries, without performing any duty.

Majority of the physical railways assets along the meter-gauge track, including buildings of railway stations, officers’ bungalows and staff quarters are badly damaged due to negligence, vandalism and theft of furniture, fixture and equipment. Corrupt railway officials have even sold the doors, windows and iron guarders of roofs of these structures. Now even bricks of these buildings are being sold. Thousands of trees of these railway premises have been chopped and their wood sold to the timber mafia.

There is an interesting history of the introduction of the meter gauge railway in Sindh province.

The Karachi Port, functional since 1800s, was the closest land stop to undivided India for all the sea freight coming from Britain, rest of Europe and the Middle East. There was however no direct rail-link between Karachi and Bombay area. Goods taken off at Karachi port had to be first transported 1200 km north to Lahore and then east ward to rest of the Indian states. In case of Gujrat, Maharashtra and Rajhastan, the goods had to go north, east and then back south. This placed Karachi port at a great disadvantage to the port of Bombay. Unlike Karachi, from Bombay freight could be transported all over India with almost direct routes.

In 1890s, this situation evoked representations from the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and the local authorities, who pressed for the extension of current railway line east of Hyderabad (Sindh).

While the Karachi Chamber of Commerce was pressing for the connection with Rajputana-Malwa system, Sir Bradford Leslie, once the Agent of the East Indian Railway, and some others came forward with the proposal of a broad gauge line from Kotri (lower Sindh) to Delhi (India) through Sindh, Gujrat and Rajhastan.

This was not accepted, but the British Government agreed to construct a line from Hyderabad to Shadipalli beyond Mirpurkhas, a distance of 89 km (55 miles), on the broad gauge, and this was opened on August 18, 1892.

In 1900 the British Government constructed the meter gauge line eastwards from Shadipalli to Jodhpur (India). The Government of Jodhpur state offered to provide a through meter gauge line westwards into Sindh province provided that the broad gauge was converted to meter gauge as far as Hyderabad to allow the whole line to be worked as one. This was accepted and Hyderabad to Shadipalli line was converted from Broad Gauge to Meter Gauge. The meter gauge line was opened on October 20, 1900. From that date the management of the whole line was entrusted to the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway.

On December 31, 1904 the capital cost of Sindh section, known as the Hyderabad-Jodhpur Railway, stood at Rs. 3, 907, 738 or Rs 31, 800 per km. Hardly had the line been converted to Meter Gauge when a demand was made that it should be reconverted to Broad Gauge.

In 1909 the Mirpur Khas - Jhaddo (80 km) section was constructed. In 1935 it was extended to Pithoro Junction (104 km). Khadro was linked to Mirpurhhas (80 km) in 1912 and with Nawabshah Junction (49 km) in 1939.

After independence (1947), the Hyderabad-Khokhrapar, Mirpurkhas-Nawabshah and Pithoro-Jamrao sections with a total length of 517 km (319 miles) came to Pakistan and were worked as a part of the North Western Railway. These sections are now part of Pakistan Railway and are the only meter-gauge sections of the Pakistan Railways.

There used to be a lot of freight traffic on the Meter Guage till the early sixties. Most of it was cotton, fresh vegetables and large quantities of red chillies - grown around Kunri on the Loop.

In mid 1960s 65 km track between Hyderabad Junction and Mirpurkhas Junction was converted to broad gauge again.

Until the Pakistan-India war of 1965, people could travel between the two countries through this railway. Pakistan Railway’s time table provided fares to different India cities via both Lahore-Wagah-Atari route and via Mirpur Khas-Khokhrapar-Munabao route. After the 1965 war, this border crossing via meter gauge railway was closed and 6 km track between Munabao (India) and Khokhrapar (Pakistan) was uprooted.

The meter-gauge railway continued to operate through its slow pace and steady degradation for 40 years. In 2004, amidst strong public demand, Pakistan and India agreed to open their rail link again via Khokhrapar-Munabao border.

On Indian side the Jodhpur-Munabao section had already been converted to Broad Gauge where as Pakistan was still operating the meter-gauge. To provide a single gauge through journey from Karachi to India it was decided to convert Pakistani portion of track also to broad gauge.

Work started on re-gauging Mirpurkhas to Khokhrapar section to Broad Gauge on April 19, 2005. New track was laid between the Pakistani city of Khokhrapar and Indian city of Munabao. Pakistan also built a brand-new station called the ‘Zero-Point’ right at the border to provide immigration services.

In December 2005, work on re-gauging of Mirpurkhas to Khokhrapar to broad gauge was completed and on Feb 17, 2006, first train from Pakistan crossed into India after a gap of 41+ years.

In other parts of the world old meter-gauge railway tracks are preserved and used as attractive tourist spots; however, in our country this historic railway track, which could have been converted into a potential tourist site was simply abandoned and left at the mercy of corrupt officials, who instead of safeguarding its assets, ravaged them and sold their material as junk.

Today, this historic rail track depicts the picture of corruption, misery and negligence. The railway staff is still posted on this section and not only getting full salaries without doing any work, but also systematically ravaging the remaining parts of this precious track, which should have been preserved as a cultural heritage.

Inspector of Works (IOW) Mirpurkhas Mohammad Yaseen Lashari, when contacted, declined any comment.