NEW DELHI: Taking note of the “glaring lapses”, including safety concerns, flagged by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) in the planning and execution of new Pamban Bridge in Tamil Nadu which will replace the 100-year old bridge, the railway ministry has set up a five-member high-powered committee to look into all issues and give report in one-and-half months.
This little over 2 km bridge is India’s first vertical-lift bridge connecting the mainland with Rameswaram. In its authorisation letter for allowing operation of trains, the CRS, South Circle, has pointed out deficiencies in the bridge and has asked railways to rectify these before starting train operations.
There is no clarity whether the bridge will be opened for train operation before the panel submits its report. Earlier, the Southern Railway was looking at opening the bridge in the next two weeks.
The committee has bridge experts from Railway Board, Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and Southern Railways along with an independent safety consultant. It will carry out an in-depth safety analysis to address all aspects of the project.
In his letter to the Southern Railway, CRS, A M Chowdhary, mentioned that the bidge is “a bad example of constructing an important structure, with glaring lapses from the planning stage to execution” and also ticked off railways saying “Railway Board has been flouting its own guidelines” by dissociating RDSO from the project.
In an official statement, the railway ministry said the design of the bridge has been done by TYPSA, an international consultant and it was designed with European and Indian codes. The design was proof-checked by IIT-Chennai. “Being designed by a foreign consultant, the Railway Board envisaged technical limitations in examination of design by the Railways and RDSO,” it said.
The ministry said after double proof check, the design of the bridge was approved by the Southern Railway. It said the modification in RDSO design for approach girders to suit local constraints has also been proof-checked by IITs Madras and IIT Bombay and approved by Southern Railway.
On the technical precautions taken, the ministry said that the welding of structural members was checked 100% by using the latest Phase Array Ultrasonic Testing and involving the Welding Research Institute, Trichy, along with a test check by the Southern Railway. “For corrosion protection, a special painting scheme used in extreme corrosion-prone areas in the world using polysiloxane paint with a design life of 35 years, has been implemented,” it said.
It was supposed to be completed by December 2021, however, the deadline was extended initially due to the Covid-19 pandemic and later due to several technical and weather conditions.
According to the Southern Railway, the 2.05-km-long bridge will allow the railways to operate trains at a higher speed and it will also increase traffic between the mainland of India and Rameswaram.
Till a road bridge was constructed in 1988, train services were the only link connecting Mandapam to Rameswaram Island situated in the Gulf of Mannar.
