Written by: Hidayat Khan
Posted on: July 04, 2019 | 
| 中文
Khyber safari train engine
Trains have always been a very important part of Pakistan’s history. Despite the idea that trains are loud, noisy and archaic, they provide an insight into the beginnings of the country’s infrastructures networks. Such is the journey of the Khyber Train Safari (known earlier as Khyber steam Safari), the only passenger line in the country which still uses steam engines. In a journey of one and a half hour, one is transported across time and space into a land imbued with mystery and antiquity.
Khyber Steam Safari used to chug out of the Peshawar Cantonment Station every Sunday morning, with its two steam locomotives that were built in Lancashire in 1907. The two engines hauled the train up the Tatara Hills and was truly unique in its route and design. It was perhaps the only train that needed the go-ahead from air traffic control because an airport cut through its route.
The track has some very unique features. It would zigzag in through the terrain to gain the altitude and reach to the final destination: Landi Kotal, from where one could travel into Afghanistan. The total length of the Peshawar/Landi Kotal section is 52 km, which includes a steep descent from Landi Kotal to Landi Khana - 2600ft in just 8 Kilometers! There are a total of 34 tunnels in the journey, with the longest tunnel being 1540ft long. One also passes through 250 bridges during the Peshawar/Landi Kotal section as the tracks pierce through mountains and wind through sandy hills.
Its foundation was laid down in the early 20th Century by the British government, which wanted to have easy access to Afghanistan during the Great Game. In 1901, the track only covered from Peshawar to Jamrud. But by April 1926, the track extended all the way to the Afghan border as an important and strategic connection to enemy territory. One cannot help think that this exact track has played a part in so many of the famous thrillers and spy novels which were written about the Great Game at the time it was unfolding.
The route also includes various lesser-known monuments constructed throughout history. During its brief stopover at Jamrud, one could see a mud-fort built in 1823, when the territory was ruled by Sikhs. Shagai, the next stop, is similarly famous for its British fort, which provided safety to the railway track. Later on, this fort was used as a line of defense in the Russian- Afghan conflict of 1979.
After shutting down on insistence of the Afghan government, the Safari Train was finally resurrected in 1995 by the provincial government at the time. For the next 12 years, tourists from across the world travelled across the rugged mountains on this very train. That came to an unfortunate end when its British-era infrastructure was washed away by the 2007 and 2010 floods.
With the merger of the tribal areas into the rest of KPK and the restoration of peace in the region, the KP government decided to reopen the track in 2015. Since it is a gauge line, it is no longer fit to carry passengers or freight for commercial purposes. However, it can be utilized exclusively for tourism, as a way to improve the living standard of the local people. As the provincial minister for tourism Atif Khan put it, trains need to be respected and be seen as heritage sites as much as other monuments in the country.
The provincial government is also planning to reconstruct other historical railway tracks for tourism, such as the route from Nowshera to Dargai, and Peshawar to Attock. They have already cleared the railway track till Takht-e-Bhai, the ancient Buddhist monastery which is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This particular train track has been a time capsule of our history and a marker of our journey into modernization and technology, which needs to respected and owned by the whole country. Hopefully, when Kyber Train Safari will open to the public, many will return to be inspired by this a sturdy and resilient machine cutting through space and time.
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