Historic British-era railway track near district courts converted into a service road
RAWALPINDI:
A 170-year-old railway track near the District Courts has been removed to make way for the District Kachehri overhead bridge and underpass project. All rails have been dismantled, and the route is being converted into a service road for the new infrastructure.
Originally laid by the British in 1856, the track connected Rawalpindi Railway Station to Askari workshops and Attock Oil Company via Kutchery, running alongside the old District Courts. Freight operations had long been discontinued, with only occasional engine or wagon movements, mostly after sunset. Now, the track has been fully removed, including its remnants.
Despite its 170-year history, the track was remarkably durable due to high-quality iron construction, and its dismantling took a full week. Over the decades, the largely unused corridor became home to dozens of bird nests along the adjacent walls, all of which were lost to the project.
Muhammad Ashraf, the most senior clerk at the District Courts, recalled that when he started in 1979, the track was active with at least one freight train daily. It served nearby dairy farms, Askari workshops, and the Attock Oil Company—none of which exist today. The corridor was historically a secure, below-road-level railway route, now fully transformed into a service road.
With the project, a piece of British-era heritage in Rawalpindi has been erased.
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