RAMANATHAPURAM: Every great era has its transition. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar with a record 100 hundreds had to go and pass the torch to the player waiting in the wings. While it was fantastic to watch him bat every time, we know all good things must come to an end. But the contribution of a player of his class to the game is never forgotten.
Quite similar is the story of the Pamban railway sea bridge, which connects Rameswaram island to the mainland.
If Sachin is a marvellous batter, the first sea bridge of India is an engineering marvel. If the master blaster is the ‘Man of the Century’, the British-era rail bridge too has a century of yeoman service to its credit. If the Mumbai batter has called it quits, the old sea bridge too is no longer in use. If the thought of Sachin’s farewell speech makes one emotional, the Scherzer-designed wonder in the Bay of Bengal too creates a bridge to the past.
Sachin had the fright of his life when he was diagnosed with a career-threatening tennis-elbow injury in 2004. But he made a remarkable recovery after surgery in 2005 and returned to the sport. Similarly, the old rail bridge too went off the track when a cyclone washed away the Pamban-Dhanushkodi passenger train (with 200-odd passengers on board) along with sections of the bridge on December 23, 1964. None of the passengers survived. But the railways restored the service on the bridge within 67 days.
When the time came Sachin handed on the baton to the likes of King Kohli whose drive, talent and ability to rise to the big occasion separated him from the boys, likewise the old Pamban bridge has also given way to a new state-of-the-art bridge built with a cutting-edge technology, bringing a sea change in infrastructure projects. The new bridge is expected to be inaugurated soon.
The Scherzer bridge
The sturdy grand old bridge, which has been braving the elements for a century, is surely one of its kind. According to the railways, the bridge work started in August 1910 and got over in December 1913. The bridge was designed by Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago and was constructed by Head Wrightson & Co Ltd of Thornaby-on-Tees England. Its span has been named after Scherzer, the engineer who designed and executed it. The Scherzer span work began in July 1913 and was completed in six months by December. The 2.05-km-long bridge consists of 145 spans of 40 feet steel girders and one span of 218 feet steel truss consisting of two lifting types of cantilever trusses.
The unique feature of this span is that it can be opened for the movement of boats/vessels by lifting the cantilever span for a maximum of 81 degrees in vertical plane. The lift span, also known as a vertical-lift bridge, is activated by using the principle of spur gear to gain a large amount of mechanical advantage. The Pamban bridge was opened on February 24, 1914, by Neville Priestley, MD, South Indian Railway Company Ltd. Railway traffic was started in the same month by the South Indian Railway Company to facilitate transport between India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
The bridge played a key role in extending the rail operation up to Dhanushkodi, a place of pilgrimage at the eastern tip of Rameswaram island. Shipping services were operated between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar, a terminus of the Ceylon Railway System. Regular steamer services were operated between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar as a part of the Railway (Managing) System to carry passengers and goods between India and Ceylon.
In the 1964 cyclone, about 124 spans of the Pamban railway bridge got washed away by tidal waves, leaving 19 pre-stressed concrete girders and the Scherzer span. Restoration works were undertaken by the railways in a warlike manner by salvaging the girders from the sea and completed within a period of 67 days. The restoration work was supervised by E Sreedharan (the Metro Man).
An anemometer, fixed at 56th pier over the bridge, recorded the velocity of the wind and whenever the velocity of the wind exceeded 58 kmph, trains were not allowed over the bridge. This was ensured by suitable connectivity to approach signals from the anemometer.
Initially, it was decided to construct a new bridge meeting broad gauge standards. To execute this project, global consultancy tenders were invited. Multi-national organisations submitted their offers to carry out the construction of the new bridge at an estimated cost of Rs 800 crore. However, railway engineers, along with technical experts from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras (IIT-M) and the Government of Tamil Nadu, conducted a detailed survey and recommended the conversion of the existing bridge to broad gauge standards instead of constructing a new bridge.
Accordingly, works were carried out at Pamban rail bridge at a cost of Rs 24 crore. Forty-seven girders were replaced by new girders and 98 girders were modified to suit broad gauge standards. Modifications to the Scherzer span were carried out in consultation with IIT-M, and Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai. Underwater examination of all piers and foundations were carried out by trained divers, and the structures below the water level were found to be in good condition. Upon completion of the gauge conversion works, the Manamadurai-Rameswaram broad gauge section, on which the historic Pamban railway bridge is situated, was opened for traffic on August 12, 2007.
The old sea bridge has been the only connection to the Rameswaram islet from 1914 till 1988, when the road bridge was constructed next to the railway bridge.
After a century of service, following the monitoring equipment fixed by a team of experts from IIT-M, excessive vibrations were felt on the Pamban bridge during train movement. Thus, considering safety issues, all train services on the bridge were suspended in December 2022 and later permanently stopped across the old bridge. The Sethu Express train was the last to cross the old Pamban bridge in December 2022.
With services across the old bridge having been stopped permanently, the railway officials had stated that a special team had inspected the bridge and the state-of-the-art centre span can be relocated to other places for public viewing after getting approval from a railway committee.
First-of-its-kind structure
As the old bridge started to face technical issues, the railways began constructing a new bridge near the existing Pamban rail bridge in 2019. Despite delays caused due to Covid-19 and climate conditions, the construction of the new Pamban bridge was completed in November 2024 and is at present awaiting inauguration. The sea bridge was constructed by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) at a cost of Rs 535 crore.
According to the railways, the new bridge has been constructed with a state-of-the-art design and first-of-its-kind centre lift span. The 2.1-km-long bridge was designed by TYPSA, international consultant. The bridge was designed with European and Indian Codes and it was proof checked by IIT-M.
The new vertical lift bridge
The bridge has 99 spans (18.3m in length). Compared to the old bridge which had only 1.5-metre clearance, the new bridge has higher clearance (3-metre clearance) from the sea, thus boats can pass through without lifting the centre lift span. The centre lift span, which is 72.5-metre long, can be lifted up to 17 metres, while the towers in the centre lift are 34-metre tall, thus bigger boats can pass through the centre portion of the bridge.
The state-of-the-art control system for the lift span allows the centre lift portion to be lifted within 5.3 minutes. It is a first-of-its-kind vertical lift bridge in India. The bridge is designed with a single electrified track for operations now and there are provisions for additional track installations in future.
Inspection and authorisation
Following the completion of construction works, AM Chowdhary, Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Southern Circle, inspected the Pamban sea bridge on November 13-14, 2024. And the CRS later that month authorised operation of trains across the new bridge.
According to the railways, the trains can be operated up to 75kmph on the bridge and 50kmph on the lift span. Earlier, it used to take nearly 30 minutes for a train to cross the old bridge, but now on the new bridge it hardly takes five minutes. A series of trial runs is being carried out on the bridge ahead of its inauguration. Trains with empty rakes were operated across the Pamban bridge to Rameswaram on January 31, 2025.
The train service across the Pamban bridge is one of the major aspects that attracts both domestic and international tourists to Rameswaram. Also, the train service plays a major role in aiding the fish trade from Rameswaram. Locals as well as tourists are awaiting resumption of train services across the Pamban bridge.
If Sachin’s cricketing talent made him the ‘God of Cricket’, the old Pamban bridge too will remain a crown jewel and pride of the railways.
1910-1913: Scherzer bridge (old Pamban railway sea bridge) planned and construction completed
1914: Old Pamban bridge opened for operation and trains operated across Pamban bridge
1964: Cyclone-triggered tidal waves wash away 124 spans, leaving only 19 girders and the Scherzer span; the bridge was restored within 67 days by railways
1988: Road bridge built near old Pamban bridge connecting Rameswaram islet to mainland. Till 1988, old bridge was the only path connecting Rameswaram
2007: Gauge conversion works carried out at old bridge
2018: Train operations halted till March 2019 for repair works
2019: Railways starts construction of new rail sea bridge adjacent to the old bridge at a cost of ` 530 cr
2022: Services across Pamban suspended in Dec 2022 after excessive vibrations felt on old bridge. Sethu Express was the last train to cross the old bridge
2024: Works of the new bridge and trial runs completed
Stap: As the old sea bridge fades into twilight, a new era dawns in the history of Indian Railways. The new and improved bridge connecting Rameswaram to the mainland will be thrown open to the public soon
Strap for E-governance copy: From revolutionising admissions through a single-window-based system and improving service delivery of welfare schemes to streamlining healthcare, the state’s tech-driven governance model continues to set national benchmarks