Southern Punjab Railway
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| Industry | Railways |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1895 |
| Defunct | 1930 |
| Headquarters | Bathinda , |
Area served | Malerkotla State, Jind State, Patiala State & Nabha State |
| Services | Rail transport |
The Southern Punjab Railway (SPR) was a 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) 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.[citation needed]
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 northwest from Delhi to Bathinda then southwest through Bahawalpur State to Samasata, a total distance of 402 miles (643 km). Several extension lines (Jullunder, Sutlej Valley etc.) extended the length to 502 miles(803 km) in 1905. In 1873, metre-gauge Delhi–Rewari line from the Delhi–Rewari section of Rajputana–Malwa Railway was extended to Hisar,[1] and then to Bhatinda in 1883–84, connecting it all the way to Karachi via Delhi–Karachi line.[2][3][unreliable source?]
The railway was worked by the North Western State (NWR) Railway (see "Records L/AG/46/34"). The railway eventually became part of Indian Railways.