WDM3A ALCO carefully haul 16701 Chennai Egmore Rameswaram express on the Pamban #Sea bridge. Speed limit 15 km/hr.

WDM3A ALCO WDM3A Ernakulam ERS 18555.

After the 1964 cyclone, the girders of #Pamban #bridge were replaced and an anemometer was installed. When the wind speed crosses 55 km per hour, signals on the bridge send out an automatic warning to approaching trains. This bridge was rebuilt in 1965 after the original bridge collapsed during the "Tsunami" of December 1964. It is with the reconstruction of the Pamban Bridge that Mr. E Sreedharan of Delhi Metro made his initial mark.

The Pamban bridge is a type of cantilever bridge on the Palk Strait connects Rameswaram on Pamban Island to mainland India. It refers to both the road bridge and the cantilever railway bridge, though primarily it means the latter. It was India's first sea bridge. It is the second longest sea bridge in India (after Bandra Worli Sea Link) at a length of about 2.3 km.

Until 1911 people crossed by boat to visit an ancient Ram temple at Rameswaram.

The railway bridge is 6,776 ft (2,065 m) and was opened for traffic in 1914. The railroad bridge is a still functioning double leaf bascule bridge section that can be raised to let ships pass under the bridge. The railway bridge historically carried meter gauge trains on it, but Indian Railways upgraded the bridge to carry broad gauge trains in a project that finished Aug. 12, 2007. Until recently, the two leaves of the bridge were opened manually using levers by workers. About 10 ships, cargo carriers, coast guard ships, fishing vessels and oil tankers, pass through the bridge every month.

The bridge is located at the "world's second highly corrosive environment", next to Miami, US, making the construction a challenging job. The location is also a cyclone-prone high wind velocity zone. It sits on an artificial sandstone reef. Nearly 5,000 tonnes of cement, 18,000 cubic feet of crushed metal stone, 2,600 tonnes of steel and 80,000 cubic feet of boulders were used to build it.

The bridge has 145 fixed spans, and one-navigation span (a total of 225 feet) that opens for ships. The drawbridge at the center comprises two sections of the navigation span, called the Scherzer span. Each weighs 415 tonnes. It is a spectacular sight when drawn up to let ships through.

A woman had a miraculous escape after she fell off a moving train into the sea from the Pamban bridge. She opened the compartment door mistaking it for the toilet and fell into the sea - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/in...

Pamban Bridge Playlist -    • Pamban Bridge