Pamban Bridge (, romanised: ''pāmban'') was a railway bridge that connected the town of

Rameswaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about from ...

Pamban Island Pamban Island (, ''pāmpaṉ tīvu''), also known as Rameswaram Island, is an island located between peninsular India and Sri Lanka. It forms part of the Rameswaram taluk in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is ...

to Mandapam on mainland India. Opened on 24 February 1914, it was India's first sea bridge, and was the longest sea bridge in India until the opening of the

Bandra–Worli Sea Link The Bandra–Worli Sea Link (officially known as Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link) is a 5.6 km long, 8-lane wide cable-stayed bridge that links Bandra in the Western Suburbs (Mumbai), Western Suburbs of Mumbai with Worli in South Mumbai. It is the second ...

in 2010. It was a conventional bridge resting on concrete piers with a double-leaf bascule section midway, which could be raised to let

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

s and

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s pass through. The Pamban bridge was the only surface transport link that connected Rameswaram to the mainland India until 1988, when a road bridge was constructed parallel to the railway bridge. In 2020, construction of a new bridge closer to the existing one began which was planned to eventually replace the existing bridge. In December 2022, rail transportation on the bridge was suspended permanently as the bascule section had weakened significantly due to corrosion.

History

Plans for a bridge to connect to mainland were suggested in 1870 as the British Administration sought ways to increase trade with

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The construction began in August 1911. The bridge was opened for traffic on 24 February 1914 and connected Rameshwaram on

to the town of Mandapam on the mainland. A closeup shot of Pamban Bridge

The bridge was damaged during the 1964 Rameswaram cyclone and required extensive repair work. The adjacent road bridge was opened in 1988. In 2009, further strengthening work was carried out on the bridge under the supervision of E. Sreedharan to enable it to withstand heavier freight trains. On 13 January 2013, the bridge required repair work to the piers after suffering a minor damage from a naval barge. In 2016, the Ministry of Railways sanctioned to replace the existing long rolling type span with a long single truss span which could be opened automatically. In December 2018, train movement was halted to carry out repairs when a fissure was noticed on one of the spans. Rail movement on the bridge was restored in March 2019. In 2020, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

announced a new railway bridge will be constructed near the old Pamban Bridge at a cost of . In December 2022, rail transportation on the bridge was suspended permanently as the bascule section had weakened significantly due to corrosion and in February 2023, the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

announced that the train traffic to Rameshwaram would be restored once the new bridge is completed. The New Pamban Bridge was completed in 2024 and was opened for traffic in April 2025.

Location

The Pamban railway bridge spans a wide strait between the Indian mainland and

. The bridge is located in a corrosive marine environment, making its maintenance a challenging job. The location is also a cyclone-prone, high-wind-velocity zone.

Design

The railway bridge is located above sea level and is long. The bridge consists of 143 piers and has a double-leaf bascule section with a Scherzer rolling type lift span that can be raised to let ships pass. Each half of the lifting span weighs . The two leaves of the bridge are opened manually using levers and took 45 minutes each to lift and drop.

Rail transport

metre-gauge railway Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

ran along the bridge since its inception in 1914 till 2007 when it was upgraded to a 5ft 6in broad gauge line. The railway line connected Mandapam on mainland India and the Pamban island via the bridge. Earlier the railway line bifurcated was from Pamban - with one line heading towards Rameshwaram about up and another branch of terminating at

Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is south-east of Pamban and is about west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cy ...

. The railway line to Dhanushkodi was destroyed during 1964 Dhanushkodi cyclone along with the Pamban-Dhanuskodi passenger train, killing around 200 people.

References

External links