Karachi Tramway

Owais Mughal

(Last updated June 14, 2022)

There was a time when citizens of Pakistan were accustomed to seeing Trams running all over the Karachi City center. In 1905 it was actually the very first Petrol driven trams service which started in the subcontinent. It was one of the most popular means of conveyance in the city center for many decades. Today, only a handful of photos, a few landmarks and memories of Trams remain.

Trivia – The ad on the Karachi tram above reads Takandas H. Kataria Eye Wear. Mr. Kataria (1898-1966) was born in Karachi. This business is still in operation in Mumbai and Kataria Optical Factory was India’s first to manufacture eye glass frames.

If you talk to any body who has seen Karachi up to 1975, they will talk about the tramways in nostalgic terms. The network was closed down in 1975 after traffic congestion in Saddar area was causing lots of traffic accidents involving Trams. The older trams were proving difficult to maintain. What happened to the rolling stock and infrastructure is anybody’s guess. I couldn’t find any information on it. Growing up in Karachi however, I remember taking rides in Trams with my father as well as seeing the left over tram tracks which were left to rust in Saddar roads until 1980s.