RVNL engineers inspect strength of pillars in Pamban rail bridge

The rail bridge, connecting the mainland with Pamban island, was constructed in 1914. Eight large pillars were placed in the sea to support the 2.3-kilometre-long bridge. 

While it is a conventional bridge for most part, it has double-leaf bascule section midway, which is manually opened, to allow the movement of ships across the bridge. Earlier, whenever a ship crossed the bridge, the bascule was lifted manually by 16 railway workers and when recently the railway track in Pamban bridge was changed to broad guage, the job of lifting the bascule became more difficult for the workers. 

Realising the risks involved in manually operation, Indian Railways decided to install a mechanised bascule section in the bridge. The foreign company, entrusted with the responsibility, has already submitted the design. Following this, the railways had directed the RVNL to inspect the stability and strength of the eight pillars of the bridge. 

On Monday, a team of engineers attached to RVNL reached Pamban railway bridge in a country boat and commenced the inspection with the help of a water-resistant robot. The robot, fitted with cameras, had been sent to study the pillars and capture images and videos. The robot is capable of clearing dust or algae on the pillars and then get a clear picture, engineers said. While they had planned to complete the inspection in two days, engineers said the process might be extended by another few days due to the strong water current, which is making it difficult for the robot to inspect the pillars. A report along with the collected videos and images will be submitted to the railways.