Emerging as a significant engineering masterpiece, the new 2.07 km New Pamban rail sea bridge in Tamil Nadu nears its completion, considering to be a significant upgrade over the century-old Pamban Bridge. In the new Avatar, it is set to be India’s first vertical lift railway sea bridge.
Reportedly, by December 2022, a remarkable 84% of the reconstruction work on the New Pamban Bridge was completed, surpassing earlier timelines that had set March 2023 as the completion date.
The prime significance of the bridge is its 72 metre long Vertical lift span, which will allow the lifting of this span by 17m to allow ships to pass below the lifted bridge. The new bridge will have electro mechanical controlled systems which will be interlocked with train control systems. This modern system, driven by an electro-mechanical process, replaces the manual operations of the old bridge.
Post completion, the bridge will consist of 99 spans of 18.3 metre length and one navigational span of 72.5 metre length. It will be 3.0 metre higher than the existing bridge with navigational air clearance of 22.0 metre above sea level. Because of vertical lift, a full horizontal width of 72.5 metre will be available for navigation.
The New Pamban Bridge, constructed at a cost of approximately INR 535 crores, is set to replace the iconic Pamban Bridge, which was inaugurated in 1914 as India’s first-ever sea bridge.
