Pakistan Railways F.C.

History

The team now known as Pakistan Railways F.C. began in the 1880s as the North-Western Railway Football Club, representing the North Western State Railway in British India. British railway staff and officials largely ran the side in its early days, and it competed in Lahore tournaments during the 1890s. The club reached the 1938 Durand Cup final but lost 0-1 to the South Wales Borderers. After the 1947 partition, most of the railway network fell within Pakistan, and the team continued playing across the country.

Pakistan Western Railway (1961–1974)

It became runner-up in the National Football Championship three times: in 1954 to Punjab Blues, in 1956 as Railway White to Balochistan, and in 1958 again to Punjab Blues. Following the railway’s renaming in early 1961, the club became Pakistan Western Railway, while a separate Pakistan Eastern Railway represented the eastern wing. From 1963 to 1966, the team lost three consecutive finals to Karachi. Its first major trophy came in 1963, winning the Aga Khan Gold Cup against Dhaka Wanderers.

Renaming to Pakistan Railways (1974–2005)

The club claimed its first National Football Championship title in 1969 by beating Karachi. In 1972, it won the All-Pakistan Lyallpur Floodlit Football Tournament. After Pakistan Western Railway was renamed Pakistan Railways in 1974, following Bangladesh’s independence and the loss of the eastern wing, the club adopted its current name. It lost the 1976 national final to Pakistan Airlines and the 1982 final to Habib Bank.

In 1984, it won its second National Football Championship, overcoming WAPDA in the final. After the 1985 Quaid-e-Azam International Tournament, the visiting North Korean team played three exhibition matches across Pakistan; against Pakistan Railways, they lost 1–3 in Multan. In July 1985, the team participated at the M.H. Mohammed Gold Cup Invitation Tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Pakistan Premier League era (2006–2015)

In 1989, the team finished runner-up after losing to Punjab Red. After the revamp in Pakistani football and the discontinuation of the National Football Championship, the club competed in the second-tier, winning the 2005–06 PFF National League, returning to the top flight. They were relegated from Pakistan Premier League after two years in the 2007–08 Pakistan Premier League. Chaudhry Muhammad Asghar was Pakistan Railways football coach till that time.

The coaching was then passed to Muhammad Rasheed, the ex-national player and Pakistan Railways player. Railways again qualified to the top-tier by winning their departmental leg of the 2013 PFF League. It remained in the top tier until getting relegated again in the 2014–15 Pakistan Premier League. Following the domestic football revamp in the country in 2023, departmental clubs including Railways remained competing in the PFF National Challenge Cup.