Kotri–Attock Railway Line (Urdu:کوٹری–اٹک مرکزی ریل راستہ) (also referred toMain Line 2 orML-2) is one of five mainrailway lines in Pakistan, operated and maintained byPakistan Railways. The line begins fromKotri Junction and ends atAttock City Junction. The total length of this railway line is 1,246 kilometers (774 mi). There are 93 operational railway stations from Kotri Junction to Attock City Junction on this line.[2]
The present-day Kotri–Attock Railway Line was built as a patchwork of different railways during the 19th and 20th centuries byNorth Western State Railway and Pakistan Railways. The present day line consists of the following historic lines:
TheMari–Attock Railway opened in 1891 as a1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)broad gauge railway line betweenMari Indus andAttock. In 1895 it was extended toMianwali.[3]
TheJacobabad–Kashmor Railway (also known as theUpper Sind Light Railway) opened in 1914 as a762 mm (2 ft 6 in)narrow gauge railway line betweenJacobabad andKashmore.[4][5]
TheLarkana–Jacobabad Light Railway (also known as theSind Light Railway) opened in 1924 as a762 mm (2 ft 6 in)narrow gauge railway line betweenLarkana andJacobabad.[6]
In 1956,Pakistan Western Railway converted the all 3 sections from762 mm (2 ft 6 in)narrow gauge to1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge. Between 1969 and 1973, Pakistan Western Railways completed the gap section betweenKashmore–Mari Indus and the line was also extended from Larkana to Kotri, thus linking Kotri to Attock. In 2010, this line was designatedMain Line 2 by Pakistan Railways to provide an alternative North–South route to the heavily usedKarachi–Peshawar Railway Line.
The stations on this line are as follows:
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
| |||||
|
