84 pc of new bridge at Pamban over, opening likely in March

MADURAI: Construction of the new bridge underway at Pamban, which connects the Rameswaram Island with the mainland, is likely to be over by March end this year.

The Southern Railway is actively engaged with RVNL the executing agency for completion of the project on time. This will be India’s first vertical lift railway sea bridge, once the work is completed.

As of now, 84 per cent of the work has been completed. Works on all the 333 piles, 101 pile cap and substructure and fabrication of all the 99 approach spans have been completed. Of the 99 approach spans, 76 girders have been launched. Moreover, fabrication of the vertical lift span girder is nearing completion, a statement said.

The bridge will have 99 spans of 18.3m length and one navigational span of 72.5 m length. It will be 3.0m higher than the existing bridge with navigational air clearance of 22.0m above sea level. The much awaited vertical lift bridge is designed to a full horizontal width of 72.5 m for navigation.

Substructure of the bridge is being built for the double line and the navigational span will also have provision for double line. The entire bridge, including the navigational span will be designed keeping in mind the railways plan of electrification. In comparison to existing manual operation and control, the new bridge would have electro-mechanical controlled systems, which will be interlocked with train control systems.

The bridge attracts tourists from all around the world, offering a visual feast to the onlookers and gives access to pilgrims visiting the famed Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple.

On the existing Pamban bridge, rail traffic between Mandapam and Rameswaram was suspended from December 23, 2022 onwards after Red alert received from the monitoring system, for safety reasons so as to undertake detailed examination and repairs as necessary to restore the rail traffic on the bridge at the earliest.

Southern Railway officials immediately conducted an inspection and assessed the condition of the bridge due to heavy corrosion and possibility of repairs for safe train operations, the statement adds.

The iconic Pamban cantilever bridge, which’s built in the pre-Independence era, was commissioned in 1914.

The existing century old Pamban bridge, which runs a total length of 2058 metre comprising 146 spans of steel girders, has already served more than 108 years which is much more than its codal life. The bridge was getting heavily corroded and was being repaired regularly by the railways in order to carry train traffic safely.