Southern Railway has announced suspension of train operations on the Pamban Rail Bridge till further announcement. All Rameswaram-bound trains will be operated from Mandapam railway station.
The zonal railway had earlier suspended all the train operations till Jan 10, 2023.
In the early hours of December 23, a continuous health monitoring system installed on the Scherzer span of the Pamban Rail Bridge triggered a red alert. The system was installed by Indian Institute of Technology – Madras to monitor the vibrations on the more than 100 years old bridge.
After the red alert was triggered by the system, a team from IIT-M studied the bridge. Senior officials from the zonal railway inspected the bridge. Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) of Indian Railways in Lucknow was consulted. The findings by the expert team from IIT were sent to RDSO.
The zonal railway on Tuesday announced suspending train operations on the bridge till further notice.
As a result, all Chennai Egmore – Rameswaram – Chennai Egmore express trains operated on the chord line and the main line are cancelled between Rameswaram and Mandapam. Similarly, Rameswaram – Tirupati – Rameswaram tri-weekly express trains, Kanyakumari – Rameswaram – Kanyakumari tri-weekly express trains and weekly trains like Ajmer – Rameswaram – Ajmer Express, Banares – Rameswaram – Banares Express and Okha – Rameswaram – Okha Express are also cancelled between Mandapam and Rameswaram.
No 22614/22613 Ayodhya Cantonment – Rameswaram – Ayodhya Cantonment, No 20896/20895 Bhubaneswar – Rameswaram – Bhubaneswar, No 07355/07356 Hubli – Rameswaram – Hubli, No 16618/16617 Coimbatore – Rameswaram – Coimbatore, No 07695/07696 Secunderabad – Rameswaram – Secunderabad and unreserved trains from Madurai and Trichy to Rameswaram are partially cancelled between Ramanathapuram and Rameswaram till further announcement.
No 06780 Rameswaram – Madurai special train, which is operated as the pairing train of Tirupati – Rameswaram Express, will be operated from Mandapam in this period.