Indian Documentary

Pamban Bridge

The most dangerous sea bridge

Pamban Bridge

This route that connects Rameshwaram to central India is actually a train route over the sea! If that wasn't amazing enough however, it also has a mechanism that allows ships to pass underneath, at one time requiring 12 people to manually pull levers that change the ascent. This bridge is also a 100 years old, making it that much more deadly.

History

The railway bridge is 6,776 ft (2,065 m) long. It was opened on 24 February 1914, construction having begun in 1911. However plans for a bridge had been suggested from as early as 1870 as the British Administration sought ways to increase trade with Ceylon. The bridge has a still-functioning double-leaf bascule section that can be raised to let ships pass.

The adjacent road bridge was opened in 1988.

The railway bridge historically carried metre gauge trains, but Indian Railways upgraded the bridge to carry broad gauge trains as part of Project Unigauge, work that was completed on 12 August 2007.Until recently, the two leaves of the bridge were opened manually using levers by workers. Around 10 ships — cargo carriers, coast guard ships, fishing vessels and oil tankers — pass through the bridge every month. More work was carried out on the bridge in 2009 to strengthen it to enable it to carry goods trains.

After completion of the bridge, metre-gauge lines were laid from Mandapam up to Pamban station. From here the railway line bifurcated, one line towardsRameshwaram about 6.25 miles (10.06 km) up and another branch line of 15 miles (24 km) terminating at Dhanushkodi. The section was opened to traffic in 1914.

The noted Boat Mail ran on this track between 1915 and 1964 from Madras-Egmore up to Dhanushkodi, from where the passengers were ferried to Talaimannar in Ceylon. The metre-gauge branch line from Pamban Junction to Dhanushkodi was abandoned after it was destroyed by the 1964 Dhanushkodi cyclone.

The bridge was subsequently restored to working conditions under Elattuvalapil Sreedharan in just 46 days. On 13 January 2013 the bridge suffered minor damage when a naval barge drifted into it. The tug towing a naval barge from Kolkatato Karwar near Mumbai ran aground hitting rocks on 10 January during bad weather. The 220 tonne barge then drifted into the bridge causing part of it to tilt slightly and requiring repair work to the piers. In 2013 it was reported that Indian Railways had applied to UNESCO for the bridge to be made a world heritage site.

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