RAMANATHAPURAM
Madurai Division of Southern Railway has decided to resume on February 27 (Wednesday) the much-awaited passenger traffic on Pamban rail bridge to Rameswaram island, which remains suspended since December 4.
“All trains operated in the sector up to Rameswaram will be operated from February 27,” railways announced on Monday.
The resumption of train services to Rameswaram would be a huge relief to devotees who would be visiting Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple during the 12-day-long ‘Masi Maha Sivarathri’ festival, which began on Monday. It would also be of great help to people visiting the temple on ‘Maha Sivarathri’ on March 4 and ‘Masi Amavasai’ on March 6, temple officials said.
The fishing community also welcomed the decision. “We have been enduring difficulty for more than two months after the railways stopped train services at Mandapam and the relief has finally come,” S.P. Royappan, a fishermen leader in Pamban, said.
The railways stopped passenger traffic on the bridge after noticing cracks in ‘some members’ in the more-than-a-century-old Scherzer’s span. After completing the retrofit work, Southern Railway engaged Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC), Chennai, to conduct stress level tests on the bridge.
After the SERC presented its report last week on completing the study, Southern Railway attended to some ‘additional members’ in the span and gave the nod for resuming train traffic. “Passenger traffic may be restored by Madurai Division in a day or two after giving public notice,” Chief Bridge Engineer Ravindra Babu told The Hindu on Monday.