New Pamban bridge to be ready by March-end

MADURAI: The Southern Railway is actively engaged with executing agency RVNL for the construction of the new Pamban bridge by the end of March 2023, Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer B Guganesan said in a release on Saturday. The new bridge will have 99 spans of 18.3-metre length and one navigational span of 72.5-metre length. It will be 3 metres higher than the existing bridge with navigational air clearance of 22 metres above sea level.

"This will be India's first vertical lift railway sea bridge. The substructure of the bridge is being built for the double line and the navigational span will also have provision for the double line. The entire bridge, including the navigational span, has been designed keeping in mind the railway's electrification plan. In comparison to existing manual operation and control, the new bridge will have electro-mechanical controlled systems which will be interlocked with train control systems," the release added.

As much as 84% of the work has been completed. The old Pamban bridge was 108 years old and had got heavily corroded. As part of the construction works, Rameswaram Express trains (Main Line, Cart Line route trains) departing from Chennai, and Chennai Egmore Express trains (Main Line, Cart Line) departing from Rameswaram between January 1 and January 10 have been suspended. Route trains between Rameswaram and Mandapam will be partially cancelled. Tiruchy-Rameswaram-Tiruchy, and all Madurai-Rameswaram Madurai Express trains will be partially cancelled between Ramanathapuram-Rameswaram in both directions till January 10. Likewise, the weekly express trains from Ayodhya, Bhubaneswar, Hubli, Secunderabad and Coimbatore to Rameswaram will also be partially cancelled between Rameswaram - Ramanathapuram railway stations. However, weekly express trains from Rameswaram to Ayodhya, Bhubaneswar, Hubli, Secunderabad, and Coimbatore will be operated from Mandapam. Other weekly and thrice-weekly service trains between Mandapam and Rameswaram have also been partially cancelled.