New Pamban Bridge

The New Pamban Bridge replaces the 1914 Pamban Bridge — India's first sea bridge — which was decommissioned in December 2022 after corrosion damage from the marine environment. The new structure parallels the old alignment with one critical innovation: a vertical lift section that raises 17 m vertically (in ~5 minutes) to allow ships to pass through the Pamban Channel, replacing the original Scherzer rolling-lift mechanism.

The lift span is 72.5 m long with steel truss construction, raised by counterweight cables driven by electric motors at 4 m/min. The remaining spans are standard 18.3 m and 23 m PSC girders on driven concrete piles.

The bridge is part of the Mandapam-Rameshwaram-Dhanushkodi rail corridor, supporting passenger trains to the pilgrimage town of Rameswaram with future capacity for double-stack freight to Sri Lanka if the Sethusamudram channel reopens.