The bridge has a vertical lift span that pushes up part of it so that larger ships can pass through, speeding up cargo movement from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. At the same time, it helps the process of developing Mandapam-Rameshwaram urban areas that have emerged as an important tourism pilgrimage centre in the country.

Designed by the Spanish firm TYPSA, the new Pamban Rail Bridge between the mainland of India and Rameshwaram Island will be an engineering marvel for the Indian Railways when it opens on June 30, 2023.

On Monday, three ships passed under the bridge successfully. Globally several countries have introduced vertical lift span technology on their sea bridges for faster ship movements along with smooth rail functioning. However, for India, this is a first of a kind. The older bridge, which used to be opened manually, allowed smaller ships to pass through. 

Passage For Ships

Though the whole rail bridge is 2.08 km long, the vertical lift span, which is a part of the bridge, has a 72.5-meter length with a width of about 40 meters. The bridge-on-a-lift goes up with the push of a button in five minutes, giving way to ships to pass through. Obviously, because of the rail bridge lifting, the railway movement has to be stopped temporarily.

Once the ship crosses, it takes another five minutes to come down and become a part of the railway track for trains to cross the sea and reach Rameswaram Island. A short stretch of over 2 km of sea separates Rameswaram island from Mandapam, at the tip of the state of Tamil Nadu in India.

Importantly, Rameswaram is considered one of the holiest places for Hindus. The reason behind this is the legend that says that Lord Rama started work on his bridge, known as Ram Sethu, to link the island of Sri Lanka, which is about 20 km away from here.

The association with the popular Ramayana story is the reason why pilgrims throng to Rameswaram every day to visit and offer prayers at the Ramanathaswamy Temple, which was built by the Pandya dynasty in the 12th century AD. 

Over 100 Years Of Rail Connectivity

The first rail connectivity was established between these two towns - Rameswaram Island and Mandapam - in 1914 when a 2.05 km long rail route was opened for train operations.

The rail network was made possible with the invention of an iconic navigation rolling span by German engineer William Donald Scherzer. The rolling span was opened manually to allow cruisers and ships to pass through. Due to the scenic view and functioning, the bridge also used to be called Cantilever Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge as a mark of tribute to the German engineer.

“The bridge transports scores of pilgrims visiting the famed Ramanathaswamy Temple. This century-old engineering marvel has stood the test of times amidst highly corrosive seas,” a press statement recently issued by the Southern Railway said.

On December 23, 2022, the Southern Railway decided to bid adieu to the rusty old bridge, declaring it unsafe for train operations. Consequently, the bridge was closed, indefinitely suspending all train connectivity to the island.

Subsequently, the idea of constructing a new bridge suitable for the double line, including a navigational lift span parallel to the existing bridge, was conceived.

“The bridge served for almost 110 years and even today, though it is non-functional, it reminds us of the glorious past of India’s train operation. Due to the low height of the girder, the seawater used to splash it during high tide,” a railway official said.

Much before suspending the train operations on the old bridge in 2022, in 2019, the Ministry of Railway decided to construct a new bridge parallel to the old one. A decision was also taken to dredge the channel so that ships with a higher displacement could pass through. 

New Bridge: A Turning Point In Rail Innovation

When the Ministry of Railway handed over the responsibility of constructing a new bridge parallel to the old one to the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) in 2019, it roped in the Spanish firm TYPSA to design a vertical lift spanner.

The work for the construction of the bridge was started in February 2020 and, according to the new deadline announced by the RVNL, it will be completed by June 30, 2024.

“We would have achieved our goal within the deadline but due to Covid, we had to extend the timeline,” a Southern Railway official said.

Talking about the difficulties that were encountered during the construction work, R Srinivasan, Senior Deputy General Manager, RVNL, said, “It is extremely challenging to build a bridge over the sea, which often gets rough and we have to stop the work. Also, since the vertical lift spanner has an overall length of 77.5 meters and a weight of 540 metric tons, it was not possible to manufacture it somewhere else and then bring it here by road.”

Consequently, the bridge had to be fabricated at Sattirakkudi Railway Station, 20 km away from the sea coast, and transported in parts for assembling and launching.

“Steel Plate girders for approach spans, Open Web Girder for the navigational span, and the tower were transported and assembled here,” Srinivasan added.

According to the Southern Railway, the new bridge will support trains at faster speeds of 80 km/h to 100 km/h whereas on the old bridge, the trains couldn’t run at speeds of more than 10 to 15 km/h speed.

“At present, only a single line has been laid but we have constructed the whole thing in such a way that in the future if we need to double the rail lines, we can do so. It is not easy to raise pillars in the sea and do the whole exercise all over again in another few years,” Srinivasan added.

Southern Railways officials say that once the bridge gets ready and operational, trains from other parts of the country can straightway terminate at Rameswaram railway station, making it easier and convenient for pilgrims to reach the holy city.

“With new railway lines and increased speed, semi-high speed trains such as Vande Bharat can also be introduced here. Not only that, even the Tamil Nadu Maritime Department can reroute bigger ships through this route, which was not possible till now,” a railway official said.