The Indian Railways has started constructing the first pillar in the sea for India’s first vertical lift railway sea bridge, Pamban rail bridge. The development work on the vertical lift railway sea bridge is currently going on at Pamban in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. The overall construction work on this bridge is likely to be completed within the next two years. The new Pamban railway sea bridge is a first-of-its-kind project for the Indian Railways. The sea bridge will be 2.05 km long and link Mandapam on the mainland and Rameswaram at the Pamban island. It will be the nation’s first vertical launch rail section. The vertical lift railway sea bridge project is being developed by Railway Vikas Nigam (RVNL). The foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019 in Kanyakumari.
The bridge will help the national transporter operate trains at a higher speed, and also allow trains to carry more weight on the route. It will also maximise the traffic volume between the mainland of Pamban and Rameswaram. An amount of Rs 250 crore is being spent for the development of the bridge. The original Pamban railway bridge was commissioned in the year 1914 to connect Mandapam to the Rameswaram island situated in the Gulf of Mannar. Till the year 1988, it was the only surface link providing connectivity between the two locations, until a new road bridge was built parallel to the link. The bridge had flaps that would open to allow for movement of ferries. The old Pamban bridge is not suitable to speed upgradation and the Indian Railways has decided to build a new bridge that will have a vertical shaft to allow for ferries to pass under when trains are not operating.