Mari Indus I Junction of Broad & Narrow Gauge I Fall of A Railway I Famous Station Turned into Ruins

#kalabagh #narrowgauge #pakistanrailways
Mari Indus I Junction of Broad & Narrow Gauge I Fall of A Railway I Famous Station Turned into Ruins

Special Thanks: Syed Tariq Masood Kazmi
Ameer Abdullah khan, Mari Indus
Music: Binu Kumar, Kerala, India
‪@SoundSFX‬ (Under License)

Mari Indus Railway Station (ماڑی انڈس ریلوے اسٹیشن) is located in district Mianwali, Pakistan. The station was constructed in 1891.

Mari Indus was the second major junction on the track after Kundian, is on the brink of ruins now. Bushes and trees have grown rampantly around the railway lines and historic buildings are falling apart due to lack of maintenance. The railway station building has a strong structure like other buildings constructed during the British rule. There was also a workshop, a power house and a guest house.

However, the station appears like a haunted place because of lack of maintenance for the past six decades. The land of the Mari Indus Railway Station is very valuable. It lies between the bank of the Indus river and Kalabagh Road.

If the department had brought the land to commercial use, it could have earned millions of rupees per month and the money could have been spent on maintenance. However, no attention has been paid to this aspect.

This is the terminus railway station of Daud Khel-Mari Indus railway track. Length of Daud Khel-Mari Indus railway track is approximately 9.6 km. Two trains Mianwali Express (Mari Indus to Lahore), and Attock Passenger (Mari Indus to Attock) are available daily from there. Before 1991 it was also the terminus station of a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge (NG) railway line connecting Mari Indus via Kalabagh to Bannu with its branch to Tank.

Mari Indus is on the east bank of the Indus River, it was the terminus of the ‘North Western Railway’(NWR) broad gauge ‘Daud Khel- Mari Indus Branch Line’ which opened in 1891 and originally described as the ‘Mari-Attock Railway’, a strategic line.

Kalabaghwas facing on the west bank of the Indus River, it was the terminus upon opening of the ‘Kalabagh-Bannu Railway’ in 1913. ‘Kalabagh Bridge’ opened in 1931 and carried the NG railway across the Indus from Kalabagh to Mari Indus.

‘Main Line’, upon opening in 1913 the 89 mile(142km) NG line was named the Trans Indus (Kalabagh-Bannu) Railway and formed part of the ‘NWR Northern Frontier Narrow Gauge Railways’. ‘Tank Extension’, 46 miles (74km) from Laki Marwat via Pezu to Tank opened in 1916, as a strategic military NG line. ‘Tank-Kaur Extension’, 12 miles(19km) to Kaur opened 1922. ‘Kaur to Manzai Extension’, 11 miles(17km) to, Manzai, opened 1921. This gave a total line length of 157 miles (253km)

The ‘Kalabagh Bridge’ opened in 1931 and was a combined road/NG rail bridge. At this time the line was renamed the Trans Indus (Mari Indus-Kalabagh-Bannu) Railway .

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