The forthcoming Pamban railway bridge, India’s first vertical-lift bridge linking the nation’s mainland with the island of Rameswaram, has a sharp curve that presents a difficulty to the railways besides its technical peculiarity and a rough sea. The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), which is constructing this 2.08-km-long bridge, is facing a challenge in moving a lift span, which is 72.5-m-long, 16-m-wide and weighs 550 tonne, from the Rameshwaram end to 450 m in the sea to fix it to the bridge.
RVNL senior official said that they started moving this lift span on March 10 and till date they have moved the 550 ton lift span 80 m towards the centre of the bridge. “The biggest challenge is the 2.65 degree of curved alignment of the bridge. Had it been straight, we would have moved it faster,” official said, adding the curved shape was essential due to various alignment changes.
The movement of the lift span to its final fixing point shall be completed by the end of May, as it still has to be carried 370 m more. “Once we cross the curved portion, we can expedite its movement. We have taken a huge precaution while moving it in the sea as its size and weight requires great precision at each step,” the official said.
When will the bridge become operational?
The train services between Mandapam in the mainland and Rameswaram island were suspended on December 23, 2022 after the existing rail bridge, which was built in 1913, was declared non-operational from the safety point of view.
“When the Pamban bridge was operational, trains used to move to the bridge and reach Rameshwaram. They used to move slowly on the Pamban bridge and reach the pilgrimage town in about 15 minutes,” a Southern Railway official said.
Presently, trains terminate at Mandapam and road routes are used to reach Rameswaram.
The officials pointed out that June 30 has been set as the deadline by RVNL to make the bridge operational. “Once the lift span is fixed, the remaining work is no big deal,” an RVNL official said. He added that this lift span can be lifted up automatically up to 17 m for ships to pass. However, it will take five minutes to go up and the same time to come down and will be scheduled in such a way so that train services shouldn’t be disrupted.
The RVNL got this lift span designed from Spanish firm TYPSA and it was manufactured at Sattirakkudi Railway Station, which is 20 km away from the sea coast. “We brought it in various parts and assembled it here at the coast because it was not possible to carry such a huge structure from the manufacturing point,” the RVNL official said.
(with inputs from PTI)