Indian Railways' train services to Rameshwaram is resumed with the inauguration of New Pamban Railway Bridge today, on April 6, 2025. This is India's first vertical lift railway sea bridge.
India's first vertical lift railway sea bridge, the New Pamban Bridge, is now officially opened after its inauguration today, on April 6, 2025. A travel across this railway bridge will offer spectacular views of the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar.
India's Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Pamban railway bridge, today on April 6, 2025, and flagged off a new train service between Tambaram and Rameswaram. [1][2][3] This new Pamban Bridge is India's first vertical lift railway sea bridge.
With the new Pamban Bridge now opened, Indian Railways has resumed railway services between mainland India and Rameswaram on the Pamban island,[2] around two and a half years after the old bridge was shut down on December 2022 due to corrosion issues.
Along with the new Tambaram-Rameswaram express train, trains from other destinations to Rameswaram are also restored. With those train services now extended, many Mail, Express and Passenger trains will now originate and terminate at Rameswaram.
Here are some interesting facts about this new modern engineering marvel and its significance.
New Pamban Bridge and its significance
The new Pamban railway bridge (and the old one before it) is the longest and the only railway sea bridge in India which connects mainland India to an island off the coast. Pamban bridge is located in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, India.
Pamban railway bridge is the longest railway bridge across the sea in India. It was also the longest sea bridge in India until the 2.3 kilometre Bandra-Worli sea link road bridge was constructed in the city of Mumbai in Maharashtra.
These railway bridges are popularly known as Pamban Bridge as they connect the Pamban island of India with mainland India. The Pamban island is also known as Rameswaram island as it is where the sacred Hindu pilgrimage site Rameshwaram, with Shri Ramanathaswamy Temple, is located. With the opening of the new bridge, this major temple destination of India is once again connected by railways.
Shri Ramanatha swamy temple in Rameswaram is a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shri Rama, and that's the significance of this new railway bridge being inaugurated today on 6th April 2025, which is the auspicious day of Rama Navami festival this year.
The island is not only an important pilgrimage site, it is also a place of great natural and scenic beauty.
The New Pamban Bridge now stands parallel to the old Pamban Bridge that was opened over 111 years ago in the year 1914 during the British colonial times. The new Pamban Bridge is India's first vertical lift sea bridge, which has a total length of 2.07 kilometres (1.29 miles) that includes a 72.5 metres (236 feet) length of vertical lifting section.
Gliding over the endless blue! 🚆🌊
— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) April 6, 2025
A mesmerizing cabin view from the new Pamban Bridge to Rameswaram, where the sea embraces the rails. 💙✨ #SouthernRailway #PambanBridge #NewPambanBridge #IndianRailways pic.twitter.com/MC8y2aUTF1
Just like the old Pamban railway bridge, the New Pamban Bridge connects mainland India to Rameshwaram in the Pamban island, in Tamil Nadu, India. It lies between Mandapam town in mainland India and Rameshwaram in the Pamban island of India. This innovative new bridge is a significant upgrade that is designed for speed and safety.
The century-old Pamban Rail Bridge had connected the mainland to Rameswaram for 108 years, until it was decommissioned in December 2022 due to corrosion, while the new modern railway bridge was being constructed beside it.
The old railway bridge had gone through several repairs and upgrades over the years. The road bridge which stands next to it was opened only decades ago in 1988.
The location of the Pamban bridge is reported to be at the world's second highly corrosive environment, next to Miami, in USA. The place is also at a zone which is prone to cyclones [4].
Hence, building a sturdy and durable sea bridge on this location is a very tough task and a great challenge to the engineers as well as the workers.
Differences between the old and the new Pamban Bridge
The main difference between the old and the new Pamban railway bridge is the section that allows boats to pass through. In the new railway bridge, a single section gets fully lifted vertically, unlike in case of the old railway bridge where two separate bascule sections swing upwards.
The old railway bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge or a drawbridge where the two sections swing upwards and allows boats to pass through.
Here's how the new Pamban bridge is different from the old one, as per the information shared by the Minister of Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnav [5] and the Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India. [6]➡️
🚆 Old Bridge (opened in 1914):
- Manual Scherzer rolling lift span for ship passage. Two workers at each side used to lift the bridges, using levers.
- Air clearance: 19 metres above sea level.
- Single railway track only.
- Had a corroded structure, and allowed low-speed trains only.
🚄 New Bridge (opened in 2025):
- Vertical lift span, which is a fully automated electro-mechanical system.
- Air clearance: 22 metres above sea level (this is safer for ships).
- This bridge is designed for double tracks and electrification.
- Has a modern design with High-speed train compatibility.
- Built with stainless steel reinforcements and polysiloxane paint, it is designed to withstand harsh marine conditions.
About the New Pamban Bridge
Constructed by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), a Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Railways, The New Pamban Bridge is India’s first vertical lift railway sea bridge, which is a 2.07 kilometres long marvel that spans the Palk Strait in Tamil Nadu.
A technologically advanced and resilient replacement to the old bridge was necessary, given the region’s seismic activity, marine corrosion, and proneness to cyclones. In 2019, the Government of India had sanctioned the construction of a technologically advanced and future-ready replacement for the 100+ years old Pamban railway bridge. [7]
The foundation stone for the new Pamban railway bridge was laid in November 2019 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and its construction began in February 2020 and its completion got delayed by the COVID pandemic and lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. Despite the delays, the construction work continued and it was completed in September 2024, that is, nearly four years since it began.
The construction of this new Pamban Bridge faced numerous challenges. The Palk Strait’s turbulent waters, strong winds, and unpredictable weather patterns created difficulties in the construction process. Careful planning and a robust design was essential due to the region’s susceptibility to cyclones and seismic activity.
After its completion in September 2024, this bridge as well as its vertical lift section was tested multiple times and was finally cleared for opening after safety inspections were conducted by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS)
The new Pamban Bridge spans over 2.07 kilometres, and it is built at a cost of ₹535 crores by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL). It is designed to handle faster trains and a higher railway traffic. It contains 100 spans, of which, 99 spans are 18.3 metres long steel plate girders.
It has a vertical lift span that can be raised to about 17 metres and this navigational span is 72.5 metres long,[7] for allowing marine traffic to pass through. This has an automated electro-mechanical system that rises the vertical lift section to 17 metres in just 5 minutes, to allow smooth passage of ships. [8][9]
While this vertical lift section can rise up to 17 metres, it gives an air clearance of about 22 metres above the sea level for ships.
The bridge is located in the second highly corrosive environment in the world and it is designed to withstand harsh marine conditions. It was expected to have a lifespan of up to 58 years, [8] while a newer report by the Ministry of Railways states that its durability ensures a lifespan of over 100 years with minimal maintenance. [7]
Although it currently has only a single railway line built over it, the new bridge is designed for two railway tracks, keeping a future necessity in mind.
The new bridge also has safety and environmental features built in, such as, a wind velocity monitoring system and a condensation system for conversion of air humidity to drinking water.
The wind velocity monitoring system consists of a three-cup anemometer installed at pier no. 38, which measures the wind speed to determine the safety of train movement over it. If the wind speed exceeds a speed of 58 kmph, the system triggers a red signal interlocked with the bridge system to halt trains on both sides.
A condensation system is installed that extracts humidity from air and converts it to clean drinking water, which provides safe drinking water even in low hunidity conditions, for the round-the-clock staff in the mid-sea electrical room that operates the vertical lift span.[7]
About the old Pamban Bridge
The century-old Pamban Rail Bridge had connected the mainland to Rameswaram for 108 years, since it was opened in 1914, but was shut down in December 2022 due to corrosion issues. It's construction began in 1911 and was completed in 1914. This old railway bridge had gone through several repairs and upgrades over the years.
The old railway bridge was opened in 1914 during the British colonial rule in India, where their engineers had constructed the original Pamban Bridge. This old bridge is a cantilever bridge, that is, a long piece of metal or wood that extends horizontally, supported on only one end. This cantilever bridge structure had a Scherzer Rolling Lift span in the middle, to allow passage of ships by manually raising the rolling lift section.
The Scherzer Rolling Lift is a type of bascule bridge that can be raised, as you can see from some of the pictures of the old Pamban Bridge.
The 1964 Rameswaram cyclone, also known as the Dhanushkodi cyclone, which was one of the most powerful storms on record to hit India, had damaged this old bridge and had even swept a train off this bridge, but it was repaired within 45 days under the direction of E. Sreedharan [10], who later came to be known as the Metro Man of India. The Indian engineering marvels of Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro were completed under his leadership in later decades.
The old railway bridge was the only bridge to the Pamban island back then, and the road bridge was opened two decades later in 1988.
This 1964 cyclone had also devastated Pamban island, and the Dhanushkodi town on the south-eastern tip of this island remains abandoned even till this day.
The original Pamban railway bridge had metre-gauge railway tracks. Since its inauguration in 1914 to the year 2003, only metre gauge trains used to run over it. It was closed for track conversion in 2003 [4] and was opened again in 2007 [11] after it was upgraded to the 5 feet 6 inch broad gauge.
About vertical lift bridges
The modern vertical lift bridges were first commissioned in the cities of Chicago and Duluth in Minnesota, in the USA. John Alexander Low Waddell is known as the father of the modern vertical lift bridge.
Interestingly, around the time when the original Pamban bridge (a bascule drawbridge) was being planned by the British Raj in the early 1900's, around the same time in the USA, in 1907, Waddell and John Lyle Harrington had patented numerous improvements to the modern vertical lift bridge, and they went on to design more than 30 vertical lift bridges built between the years 1909 and 1917. [12]
A tourist attraction and a connector to major pilgrimage site
Coming back to the Pamban railway bridge across the sea, the original century-old Pamban Bridge had always been a tourist attraction in this region.
And now, the new railway sea bridge is ready to welcome its new tourists, pilgrims, and travellers to the picturesque Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, which has the important sacred Hindu pilgrimage site of Rameshwaram.
The new railway bridge now connects Rameswaram, one of the four Char Dham of India, a very important Hindu pilgrimage site, by rail, and as well as the naturally beautiful island and its surroundings.
This island is also the beginning of the Rama Sethu, the Rama Sethu point, which is at Dhanushkodi that is around 19 kilometres away from Rameshwaram town.
The inauguration of this New Pamban Bridge included the resumption of Indian Railways train services to Rameswaram, around two and a half years after the old bridge was shut down, as the new train between Tambaram and Rameswaram that began from today, 6 April 2025, travelled over this new bridge.
All in all, this new bridge has a great significance of being an important connector, a prominent tourist attraction that connects a major tourist and pilgrimage site, as well as being one of the great feats of Indian engineering and its prowess.
Location Map
A map of the bridge and the surrounding areas.
- On the occasion of Ram Navami, PM to visit Tamil Nadu and inaugurate New Pamban Rail Bridge connecting Rameswaram to the mainland - Prime Minister's Office, on PIB - Press Information Bureau. Posted On: 04 APR 2025 2:35PM by PIB Delhi.
- Post by Southern Railway @GMSRailway on X on April 3, 2025.
- English rendering of PM’s speech at inauguration and foundation stone laying of various development works in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu - Prime Minister's Office, on PIB - Press Information Bureau. Posted On: 06 APR 2025 5:14PM by PIB Delhi.
- Pamban Bridge to be pulled down for gauge conversion - The Hindu BusinessLine. Published on November 21, 2003. Updated - November 21, 2003 at 12:00 AM. Retrieved on 06 April 2025.
- Minister of Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, @AshwiniVaishnaw on X
- Bridging the Future! 🌉 - Ministry of Railways @RailMinIndia on X
- Bridging Progress: The Rise of the New Pamban Bridge - Ministry of Railways, on PIB - Press Information Bureau. Posted On: 04 APR 2025 5:21PM by PIB Delhi
- Ministry of Railways @RailMinIndia on X
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- When nature took over... - The Hindu, by R. Sujatha. Published - January 23, 2012 07:46 pm IST. Updated - October 18, 2016 12:41 pm IST. Retrieved on 06 April 2025.
- Pamban bridge: 10 awesome facts about India's first sea bridge - The Economic Times. Nov 13, 2013, 11:08:28 AM IST. Retrieved on 06 April 2025.
- A Tale of Two Cities: Chicago, Duluth, and The Birth of the Modern Vertical Lift Bridge - by Jeff L. Brown, on ASCE Library. Publication: Civil Engineering Magazine Archive. Volume 83, Issue 6. https://doi.org/10.1061/ciegag.0000574