Connection with the Indian Railways
There seems to be a great sort of eternal relationship between me and the Indian Railways. Even till today I feel the same enthusiasm and joy when I hear that I’d be traveling in train irrespective of wherever I’m going, be it watching out of the windows, tasting the delicious local foods on the way, meeting new people, hearing the chugging of wagons or honking of the diesel beauties or announcements in railway stations, everything about the train journey is so special and I’d just anyhow make arrangements to anyhow travel by train wherever I go, atleast to experience such places like Pamban Bridge.
Interesting Train Journeys of India
Having visited most of the parts of our country, I’d proudly say that except in one or two circumstances every inter-state journey of ours was done in trains itself. I can’t imagine traveling within India if the train wasn’t there. It’s just because of Indian Railways that I’m able to explore so much and I’m very happy for that. I’ve visited a few places just to experience the train journeys on the way like Shimla, Jaisalmer, Dudhsagar, Konkan, Katra, Darjeeling and many others. These are a few examples, but wait, I forgot to mention one more such special place in this list, which just called me there just and just to witness and experience the train journey.
The Gorgeous Pamban Bridge
Did you ever know that there exists a rail-bridge in India, which is 2.05 km long and the height of the bridge is so less that, the track is just a few feet above the sea, which was built more than 100 years and functioning till now, also an incident where a train pulled out of bridge during a heavy storm entire train was washed out, making a severe damage to bridge, also there was a feature like London Bridge where the track would open up for the ships to cross and is one among the 2 links connecting the island of Rameshwaram with main land of India. Welcome to the beautiful Pamban Bridge, Tamil Nadu.
The Journey on Pamban Bridge
So after hearing about these spectacular facts about this bridge, I was so desperate to visit this as soon as possible. So it was our first trip and our plan was to visit Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The journey started from Bangalore and the first destination was Pondicherry, followed by this beauty. After a lovely day in Pondicherry, our next stop was Rameshwaram via the iconic Pamban Bridge. So we spent a beautiful day in Pondicherry and had an amazing dinner at a local shop at Villupuram, where we would take the train to Rameshwaram. So many trains pass through the bridge taking people to the island and 2 such daily trains come from Chennai.
We booked a train named Boat Mail between Chennai Central and Rameshwaram. I’m mentioning this because this is one of the most historical trains of Indian Railways. It has been running everyday since the bridge was built in 1914, so running since 109 years. Few years ago it was a connection for travelers to reach Colombo from Chennai. The train would come through Tuticorn and the passengers taking the ticket to Colombo can get down there and take a ferry to reach Colombo in Sri Lanka.
We boarded the train at night around 9 and had a peaceful sleep with a lot of eagerness and enthusiasm to witness the iconic engineering marvel and spectacular view of the ocean with a lovely sunrise. Things went as expected and then we got up in the morning and the train was gushing at its MPS at some remote location. Half of the train was empty as people were getting down at various places on the way. It was slightly drizzling and I captured a few beautiful clicks on the way and was regularly checking the schedule waiting to get on the bridge and feel the dream come true moment.
Geography of the Island : Rameshwaram
So Rameshwaram is geographically an island, as one has to cross the Indian Ocean to reach it. Even though the cross is small, it’s officially an island itself and there are only 2 ways to reach it. One is the modern road bridge built in 1988 and before that only the rail bridge existed and was the only connection. So it’s not wrong to call it as a lifeline of Rameshwaram. The bridge lies between two places named Mandapam and Pamban. The bridge is exactly 2.06 km in length and just 40 ft above the tides. This bridge became very famous in the movie Chennai Express (even I got to know Dudhsagar from this movie).
So after a long wait the train finally reached Mandapam at around 8 and I was damn excited as the weather was so clear and after the drizzle the green all around was looking much more beautiful. Even the slow tides of the Indian Ocean were parallel to the tracks. The coconut grooves with green patches all around was a perfect beginning . So one more thing is, as this bridge is getting older and the pillars are getting corroded, a new railway bridge in parallel to this bridge is being constructed at a very great pace. So one can notice the construction at a very great level being carried on to finish up the work very soon.
So once I saw that the ocean would be crossing us soon from the window, I took my place near the door where nobody is there to capture this lifetime experience. All the construction equipment and infrastructure was visible right parallel to this bridge. So there is a speed restriction for all trains which is 10km/hr. So once the train applies the brakes, you’ve to understand that the train is getting onto the bridge. Even the same thing happened and I was thrilled and overjoyed.
Traveling on the Waves
Within no time, the train was on the bridge and this was one of the most spectacular views I ever witnessed till date. The distance from track to tides was so low that I could actually feel that train was traveling on the waves. Another thing to notice is that, there are no barriers at all on the entire bridge, only there’s a track without space for workers to pass by, but kind of a supporting structure to stand when the train passes. Hence it feels so scary to look below as directly what you see is just the crystal clear water of Indian Ocean with rocks all around, but the current of water was actually scary to watch out.
Rameshwaram is dependent on fishing and I could see a lot of fishing boats hanging all around on this sunny morning. Right next was the road bridge which was actually 2 or 3 floors above us. There were so many people out there just to capture the beauty of the bridge with the train and actually it usually happens that the people actually come to the bridge at times where the train would pass through the bridge. I missed it due to the problem of vehicles during my stay at Rameshwaram, but that’s also a must do thing if you’re planning to visit here.
The Beauty of Oceans
I’m not sure if it’s a coincidence or it happened only on those days, but what I witnessed was that the color of the water in the eastern coast is much more clear and bright, unlike the Arabian Sea which is hardly bright and not so clear. So this added to the beauty in bright sunny morning. I don’t remember the number of pictures I clicked on this entire journey, but really it was a dream come true moment and quite satisfied because the parallel bridge is almost about to finish and when it happens the existing traditional bridge would be closed and it would turn out to be a normal rail bridge without actual feel of the journey.
The Brave Men on Duty
I could actually sense the gush of winding hitting the train and it was so severe that I would be washed out of the bridge if I was standing alone on the bridge. Everything is going fine just because of all the gang men who are working for the maintenance regularly before the arrival of any train on the bridge. Huge shoutout for them for working for our safety and well-being of the bridge. The distance is actually so huge, so once you’re in the middle of the bridge you feel no connection from outside and you’re literally traveling on the waves in the middle of the sea.
Conclusion
After a long journey ( a short 2km journey with lifelong memories), the train finally reached Pamban, the first station after the bridge. Actually there was a diversion here going towards Dhanushkodi, but it’s not operational right now because of an entirely different story which I would narrate in the next part of this series. We finally reached the City of Temples after a memorable journey and explored the temple city and the famous city named Dhanushkodi, which has a very interesting story which I would continue in some other blog.
