<p>Chennai: Chennai: Prime Minister <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/narendra-modi">Narendra Modi</a> has chosen Ram Navami, which falls on April 6, to inaugurate India’s first vertical lift sea bridge in Pamban off the Rameswaram coast. This will lead to the resumption of train traffic between the island and the mainland after over two years.</p><p>Modi’s visit to Rameswaram, a major pilgrimage center associated with Lord Ram, who is believed to have built a bridge from the island to Sri Lanka to defeat Ravana, is significant. He will also offer prayers before the Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple on the occasion of Ram Navami. This will be the Prime Minister’s second visit to Rameswaram in about 16 months, after he spent a night in the temple town before flying out to Ayodhya for the inauguration of the Ram Temple in January 2024.</p><p>Modi will inaugurate the bridge, built at a cost of Rs 531 crore, replacing the 110-year-old iconic Cantilever bridge built during the British regime, on April 6. Following this, the bridge will be opened for commercial operations. He will also flag off a new train connecting Rameswaram with Tambaram, on the outskirts of Chennai, on the occasion.</p><p>“The Prime Minister, after inaugurating the rail bridge, will visit the temple and offer prayers. He is likely to take a dip at the 22 holy tanks inside the Ramanathaswamy Temple and in the ocean, which is a custom for everyone who visits the temple,” a source in the know told <em>DH</em>.</p>.Bangkok to Bengaluru: PM Modi, other leaders to virtually inaugurate BIMSTEC energy centre.<p>Southern Railway (SR) General Manager R N Singh, who inspected the new bridge on Wednesday, said Modi will address a public meeting after the inauguration. In response to a question, the official said the old Cantilever bridge will be dismantled, and parts of it could be preserved.</p><p>The new structure, which has 100 spans—99 spans of 18.3m length and one navigational span of 72.5m length across the sea—will lift up vertically, allowing ships to pass through the Rameswaram coast. The bridge was in the news recently after the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) pointed out several lapses in the planning and execution of the project by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, a Central PSU.</p><p>SR has been working for the past three months to rectify the deficiencies pointed out by the CRS.</p><p>The vertical lift span bridge takes 3.5 minutes to lift the structure and the same time to bring it down for trains to pass. With this, Rameswaram island will once again find itself on the railway map after two years, as services on the old bridge were suspended in December 2022 due to safety concerns.</p><p>The old structure, which is a major tourist attraction for pilgrims visiting Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, was severely damaged by a cyclone in 1964 that flattened the tiny island of Dhanushkodi but was restored in a record 46 days by a team of engineers led by then young E Sreedharan, now known as India’s ‘Metro Man.’ </p>
<p>Chennai: Chennai: Prime Minister <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/narendra-modi">Narendra Modi</a> has chosen Ram Navami, which falls on April 6, to inaugurate India’s first vertical lift sea bridge in Pamban off the Rameswaram coast. This will lead to the resumption of train traffic between the island and the mainland after over two years.</p><p>Modi’s visit to Rameswaram, a major pilgrimage center associated with Lord Ram, who is believed to have built a bridge from the island to Sri Lanka to defeat Ravana, is significant. He will also offer prayers before the Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple on the occasion of Ram Navami. This will be the Prime Minister’s second visit to Rameswaram in about 16 months, after he spent a night in the temple town before flying out to Ayodhya for the inauguration of the Ram Temple in January 2024.</p><p>Modi will inaugurate the bridge, built at a cost of Rs 531 crore, replacing the 110-year-old iconic Cantilever bridge built during the British regime, on April 6. Following this, the bridge will be opened for commercial operations. He will also flag off a new train connecting Rameswaram with Tambaram, on the outskirts of Chennai, on the occasion.</p><p>“The Prime Minister, after inaugurating the rail bridge, will visit the temple and offer prayers. He is likely to take a dip at the 22 holy tanks inside the Ramanathaswamy Temple and in the ocean, which is a custom for everyone who visits the temple,” a source in the know told <em>DH</em>.</p>.Bangkok to Bengaluru: PM Modi, other leaders to virtually inaugurate BIMSTEC energy centre.<p>Southern Railway (SR) General Manager R N Singh, who inspected the new bridge on Wednesday, said Modi will address a public meeting after the inauguration. In response to a question, the official said the old Cantilever bridge will be dismantled, and parts of it could be preserved.</p><p>The new structure, which has 100 spans—99 spans of 18.3m length and one navigational span of 72.5m length across the sea—will lift up vertically, allowing ships to pass through the Rameswaram coast. The bridge was in the news recently after the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) pointed out several lapses in the planning and execution of the project by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, a Central PSU.</p><p>SR has been working for the past three months to rectify the deficiencies pointed out by the CRS.</p><p>The vertical lift span bridge takes 3.5 minutes to lift the structure and the same time to bring it down for trains to pass. With this, Rameswaram island will once again find itself on the railway map after two years, as services on the old bridge were suspended in December 2022 due to safety concerns.</p><p>The old structure, which is a major tourist attraction for pilgrims visiting Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, was severely damaged by a cyclone in 1964 that flattened the tiny island of Dhanushkodi but was restored in a record 46 days by a team of engineers led by then young E Sreedharan, now known as India’s ‘Metro Man.’ </p>