The Pakistan Railways is the most important transport institution in the country
The first railway line in Pakistan was built in Karachi in the 1860s. Over the next century it was gradually expanded almost one thousand miles north to the Afghan border areas in the North-West Frontier province (NWFP). To a large extent, the railway line followed the Indus River up north.
Originally composed of four separate railway sections in provinces along the Indus, it became known as North Western State Railways in 1886. Most of the line was received by Pakistan at Independence in 1947.
The workshops in Lahore were some of the most important in British India. They were able to undertake the manufacture and repair or rolling stock cars and engine carss. They have since become the primary workshops for Pakistan Railways.