Rameswaram to get India’s first vertical lift bridge off Pamban

An engineering marvel is in the works off the Rameswaram coast in Tamil Nadu.

A vertical lift rail bridge, first-of-its-kind in the country, is being built in the sea to replace the 109-year-old iconic Pamban Cantilever bridge over which trains chug into the tiny island of Rameswaram from the mainland and vice-versa.

The new 2-km-long bridge will move up to let ships and cruisers pass through as compared to spans lifting on both sides in the old structure, which is heavily corroded due to highly corrosive seas.

Rail traffic on the old bridge connecting Pamban with Rameswaram, which was built in 1914 under the British regime, has been suspended since December 23 after the monitoring system sent out a red alert.

The old structure was severely damaged by a cyclone in 1964 that flattened the tiny island of Dhanuskodi island, but was restored in a record 46 days by a team of engineers led by then young E Sreerdharan, now known as India’s 'Metro Man'.

The new structure, which is coming up parallel to the century-old bridge on the northern side of the Pamban Channel, will be completed by March 2023 after which several agencies will conduct a series of tests to check a slew of factors, including load-bearing capacity.

“Nearly 85% of work on the new bridge is completed and the remaining 15% will be over by March 31, 2023, after which several agencies will conduct a series of tests to check a slew of factors, including load-bearing capacity. It will be opened for rail traffic once it is certified fit to carry passengers,” a senior Southern Railway official told DH.

With 99 spans of 18.3m length and one navigational span of 72.5m length, the new bridge, which blends tradition and modernity, will be 3 metres higher than the existing bridge with navigational air clearance of 22 metres above sea level.

“Since the bridge will lift up vertically, a full horizontal width of 72.5 m will be available for navigation. This means ships that are large in size can also pass the Rameswaram coast now. The work on the vertical lift span girder will be completed by the first week of February,” the official said.

Being built at an estimated cost of Rs 280 crore, the super structure of the new bridge is made of steel girder, while pile structure (sub-structure) is made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC). Though the work began in 2020 and was to be over by the end of 2021, the Covid-19 lockdown and other factors delayed the construction.

The official also added that the bridge’s substructure is being built keeping in mind the future plans, including doubling the existing single line and electrification. While the old bridge is operated manually, the new structure will have electro-mechanical controlled systems and they will be interlocked with train control systems.

“Nothing has been decided on what to do with the old bridge. It will either remain in the same place as a heritage structure or will be dismantled. A decision will be taken once the new bridge is made operational,” he said.