RAMANATHAPURAM: Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) floated a special tender, valued at Rs 2.81 crore, earlier this week for dismantling the century-old Scherzer’s Rolling and Lift Span of the old Pamban railway bridge. The dismantling work is expected to be completed in four months once the tender process, scheduled for conclusion by September, is finalised, said officials.
The project involves cutting and dismantling the movable and fixed portions of the lift span—the horizontal section that raises to provide clearance for vessels to pass through —into manageable sections, transporting the components to designated sites in Mandapam and Pamban, and handing them over to the railway department.
The dismantling is estimated to cover over 1,100 tonnes of steel and machinery. As per the tender, drone cameras would be used to document the process daily. The machinery parts and gears are required to be removed without damage. Temporary arrangements, including cranes, barges, and other pieces of equipment, would also be deployed during the work.
Officials said that the bridge —constructed in 1913 and commissioned for service in 1914— has been severely affected by corrosion, despite decades of maintenance. The dismantling of the Scherzer span is now seen as a crucial step in decommissioning the old structure. On the contrary, Pamban residents and historians alike have urged the railway department to preserve the iconic lift span as a tourist attraction, calling it a piece of railway heritage.
The 2.05-kilometre old Pamban sea bridge, comprising 145 spans of 40-foot steel girders and the Scherzer span, is a landmark structure linking Rameswaram island with the mainland. For decades, it served as the only link until a parallel road bridge was built in 1988. Train services on the old bridge were suspended in December 2022 after monitoring equipment detected excessive vibrations during train movement. The Sethu Express was the last train to cross the bridge.
In April 2023, the railway tracks from the mainland connecting the old bridge were removed to instal tracks to the new rail bridge, constructed by the RVNL at a cost of Rs 535 crore.