New Pamban Rail bridge all set for commercial operations in Tamil Nadu

The new structure has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 545 crore.

Pamban, Tamil Nadu: Southern Railway and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, a Central PSU, on Friday said that they have “corrected all deficiencies” on India’s first vertical lift sea bridge off Rameswaram coast as pointed out by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) after his inspection of the new structure in November.

They said commercial operations on the new bridge, which will replace 110-year-old iconic Cantilever bridge, could begin soon once authorities concerned put their seal of approval after due process, including an inspection.

The new structure, which has 100 spans with 99 spans of 18.3m length and one navigational span of 72.5m length across the sea, has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 545 crore. The bridge will lift up vertically, allowing ships to also pass through the Rameswaram coast.

“We have rectified the deficiencies and sent a compliance report of the corrections made following the CRS inspection to the Southern Railway. The SR will decide on operations after reviewing our report,” R Srinivasan, Senior Deputy General Manager, RVNL, told DH.

Officials from the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) inspected the new structure recently and concluded all protocols have been followed, Srinivasan said, adding that teams from IIT-Madras and Bombay have also expressed satisfaction over the quality of the bridge.

The vertical lift span bridge was operated – it takes 3.5 minutes to lift the structure and the same time to bring it down for trains to chug – in the presence of journalists on Friday afternoon. Once the bridge becomes operational, Rameswaram island will once again find itself on the railway map after two years – services on the old bridge were suspended in December 2022 due to safety concerns.

On CRS’ comments on a host of issues, Srinivasan said efficacy of the welding of the structure was checked using the latest Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing method, besides additional checking by the Welding Research Institute attached with the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Tiruchirapalli.

“We designed the bridge with the help of a foreign firm and at every step, the Southern Railway was involved at every stage. There was no deviation,” Srinivasan added.

On CRS’ comments that parts of the bridge have already been affected by corrosion, the RVNL official said a special painting used in extreme corrosion prone areas was used to paint the structure.

Sources told DH that the central span of the old bridge is likely to be dismantled due to safety concerns and a final decision on it will be taken within a month.

In an eight-page report in November, CRS pointed out at least half-a-dozen deficiencies, including “non-proper” alignment of the track.

Southern Railway officials said the corrections suggested by the CRS, who pointed out glaring lapses from the planning to execution stage, have been carried out. Sharad Srivastava, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Madurai inspected the bridge and tracks on December 25 as part of the process to clear the bridge for commercial operations.

Srinivasan said RVNL followed the code set internationally for designing and building the steel bridge as RDSO doesn’t have any model for such a structure.

“Once we explained the code we have followed, they were satisfied,” he said, adding that the speed of the trains on the vertical span bridge will be capped at 50 km per hour while it will be 75 km per hour on either side of the structure, as recommended by the CRS.

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.’