Rail traffic on Pamban bridge to resume today

Direct train services bound for Rameswaram, a key pilgrimage centre in the southern region, were suspended from December 4, last year, as one of the girders of bridge developed a crack.

The authorities noticed a fissure on a portion of the century-old cantilever bridge, which connects Rameswaram with the mainland. Subsequently, a decision was made to stop all the trains at Mandapam itself.

To facilitate Rameswaram bound passengers, who alighted at Mandapam, special buses were made operational to take those passengers to Rameswaram, which remains the home to famous Sri Ramanathaswamy temple. Besides, enhanced passenger amenities and security were made at the Mandapam halt station, sources said. 

Neenu Ittyerah, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Southern Railway, Madurai inspected the bridge during the course of maintenance works undertaken on it.

The century old Pamban bridge, which runs to a length of 2,058 meters, consists of 146 spans of steel girders. Normally, trains would ply over this bridge at a speed of 15 kilometer per hour. But keeping in mind the safety of rail passengers, the authorities had decided to operate trains at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour.

In December last year, Chief Bridge Engineer K Ravindra Babu inspected the repair works along with other Southern Railway officials and said that the stability of the bridge needed to be checked.

Moreover, a team of engineers led by Santhosh Kapuria, Director, CSIR- Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC) inspected the maintenance works carried out on the bridge in the second week of January this year. The team testedthe stability of the girder, which sufferedstructural problem.

Normally, four pairs of passenger trains were operational to and from Rameswaram on a daily basis, besides two daily express trains, six bi-weekly express trains and two tri-weekly express trains. All these trains were terminated at Mandapam owing to execution of bridge repair works, sources added.