India’s first vertical lift railway sea bridge 84 per cent complete, to be finished this year

Rameshwaram: Railway officials have said that the construction of the new Pamban Bridge, a Railway’s engineering marvel will likely be completed by the end of December 2022. The bridge has an estimated cost of Rs 560 crores.

The two kilometers long bridge is India’s first vertical lift sea bridge. It will open upwards to let bigger ships pass through. It is being developed by Railway Vikas Nigam.

The construction work on the 2.05 km Pamban railway bridge in Mandapam, which will connect Rameswaram to the mainland in Tamil Nadu, is expected to be fully operational from March next year.

The new bridge will help the railways to operate trains at higher speed, carry more weight and increase the volume of traffic between Pamban and Rameswaram.

The existing Pamban Rail Bridge, which connects Rameswaram to mainland India, is over a hundred years old.

This bridge will have a 63-metre stretch which will lift up while remaining parallel to the deck to allow access to the ships.

While the current bridge has the ‘Scherzer’ rolling lift technology in which the bridge opens up horizontally to let ships pass through, in the new one, a 63 metre section will lift vertically upwards remaining parallel to the deck. It will be done using sensors at each end.

India’s 1st Vertical lift Railway Sea Bridge#NewPambanBridge
🔹84% work completed & track laying work is in progress
🔹Fabrication of Vertical Lift Span girder is nearing completion.
🔹Assembling platform for vertical lift span on Rameswaram end of the bridge is getting ready. pic.twitter.com/0Ze5C7PwBA

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) December 1, 2022