Good news for Ramanathaswamy Temple devotees! Work on Indian Railways’ first-of-its-kind project- New Pamban railway sea bridge is in full progress. The new Pamban railway sea bridge at Rameswaram in the state of Tamil Nadu is going to be the country’s first Vertical Lift Railway Sea Bridge. The foundation stone of this 2 km long railway sea bridge, connecting Rameswaram on Pamban island and mainland India, was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March, last year, in Kanyakumari. It was earlier reported that the construction work on this new Pamban railway bridge in Tamil Nadu was started last year on 8 November. The overall work on this rail sea bridge is scheduled for completion within the next two years.
The New Pamban rail sea bridge project of Indian Railways is being developed by Railway Vikas Nigam Limited. It is expected that the new Pamban rail bridge will help the national transporter operate trains on the route at a higher speed, as well as allow trains to carry more weight. Moreover, the project is said to maximize the volume of traffic between the mainland of Pamban and Rameswaram. India’s first Vertical Lift Railway Sea Bridge is being built at a cost of Rs 250 crore.
The new bridge, upon construction, will be more than 2 km long with 100 spans of 18.3 metres as well as one navigational span of 63 metres, that will move upwards vertically, enabling the movement of ships and steamers. The Scherzer span is operated manually in the Pamban existing bridge to allow ship movements. In the proposed facility of the new bridge, it will have the electro-mechanical controlled systems, which will be interlocked with the train control systems to provide seamless system connectivity.
In the year 1914, Indian Railways’ original Pamban bridge (old bridge) was commissioned to link Mandapam to the island of Rameswaram that is located in the Gulf of Mannar. Only it was offering connectivity between the two places till 1988 until the construction of a new road bridge parallel to the surface link. However, it was said that the old Pamban railway bridge is not suitable for speed upgradation. Thus, the national transporter has now decided to construct a new bridge that will have a vertical shaft to allow for ferries to pass under when trains are not running.
Cover Image- The Better India