ROADS AND RAILWAYS
~Roads.~--The alignment of good roads in the plains of the Panjáb is easy,
and the deposits of calcareous nodules or _kankar_ often found near the
surface furnish good metalling material. In the west the rainfall is so
scanty and in many parts wheeled traffic so rare that it is often wise
to leave the roads unmetalled. There are in the Panjáb over 2000 miles
of metalled, and above 20,000 miles of unmetalled roads. The greatest
highway in the world, the Grand Trunk, which starts from Calcutta and
ends at Pesháwar, passes through the province from Delhi in the
south-east to Attock in the extreme north-west corner, and there crosses
the Indus and enters the N.W.F. Province. The greater part of the
section from Karnál to Lahore had been completed some years before the
Mutiny, that from Lahore to Pesháwar was finished in 1863-64. A great
loop road connects our arsenal at Ferozepore with the Grand Trunk Road
at Lahore and Ludhiána. The fine metalled roads from Ambála to Kálka,
and Kálka to Simla have lost much of their importance since the railway
was brought to the hill capital. Beyond Simla the Kálka-Simla road is
carried on for 150 miles to the Shipkí Pass on the borders of Tibet,
being maintained as a very excellent hill road adapted to mule carriage.
A fine tonga road partly in the plains and partly in the hills joins
Murree with Ráwalpindí. From Murree it drops into the Jhelam valley
crossing the river and entering Kashmír at Kohála. It is carried up the
gorge of the Jhelam to Báramúla and thence through the Kashmír valley to
Srínagar. A motor-car can be driven all the way from Ráwalpindí to
Srínagar. In the N.W.F. Province a great metalled road connects
Pesháwar, Kohát, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khán.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Poplar lined road to Srínagar.]
~Railways. Main Lines.~--It is just over fifty years since the first
railway, a short line joining Lahore and Amritsar, was opened in 1862.
Three years later Lahore was linked up with Multán and the small
steamers which then plied on the Indus. Amritsar was connected with
Delhi in 1870, and Lahore with Pesháwar in 1883. The line from Pesháwar
to Lahore, and branching thence to Karáchí and Delhi may be considered
the Trunk Line. The railway service has been enormously developed in the
past thirty years. In 1912 there were over 4000 miles of open lines.
There are now three routes from Delhi to Lahore:
[Illustration: Fig. 44. Map showing railways.]
(_a_) The N.W. Railway _via_ Meerut and Saháranpur (on east of Jamna),
and Ambála, Ludhiána, Jalandhar, Amritsar;
(_b_) The Southern Panjáb Railway _via_ Jind, Rohtak, Bhatinda, and
Ferozepore;
(_c_) The Delhi-Ambála-Kálka branch of the East Indian Rallway from
Delhi through Karnál to Ambála, and thence by the N.W. Railway. This is
the shortest route.
The Southern Panjáb Railway also connects Delhi with Karáchí through its
junction with the N.W. Railway at Samasata to the south of Baháwalpur.
Another route is by a line passing through Rewárí and the Merta
junction. Karáchí is the natural seaport of the central and western
Panjáb. The S.P. Railway now gives an easy connection with Ferozepore
and Ludhiána, and the enormous export of wheat, cotton, etc. from the
new canal colonies is carried by several lines which converge at
Khanewál, a junction on the main line, a little north of Multán.
~Railways. Minor Lines.~--The Sind Ságar branch starting from Lála Musa
between Lahore and Amritsar with smaller lines taking off further north
at Golra and Campbellpur serves the part of the province lying north of
the Salt Range. These lines converge at Kundian in the Mianwálí
district, and a single line runs thence southwards to points on the
Indus opposite Dera Ismail Khán and Dera Ghází Khán, and turning
eastwards rejoins the trunk line at Sher Sháh near Multán. There are a
number of branch lines in the plains, some owned by native States.
Strategically a very important one is that which crossing the Indus by
the Khushálgarh bridge unites Ráwalpindí with Kohát. The only hill
railway is that from Kálka to Simla. A second is now under construction
which, when completed, will connect Ráwalpindí with Srínagar. All these
lines with the exception of the branch of the E.I. Railway mentioned
above are worked by the staff of the N. W. State Railway, whose manager
controls inside and outside the Panjáb some 5000 miles of open line. The
interest earned in 1912 was 4-1/2 p.c., a good return when it is
considered that the parts of the system to the north of the Salt Range
and the Sind Ságar railway were built primarily for strategic reasons.