railminindia – Rail Duniya

Yes, the travel destination of many of us, the Pamban Bridge which connects Rameswaram to mainland India is soon going to be replaced by a new technology driven vertical lift bridge.

Before, we actually see in the video, how the new bridge is going to work, lets read about pamban bridge.

Pamban Bridge is a railway bridge which connects the town of Rameswaram on Pamban Island to mainland India. Opened on 24 February 1914, it was India’s first sea bridge, and was the longest sea bridge in India until the opening of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in 2010.

Until 1988, the Pamban bridge was the only surface transport that connected Tamil Nadu’s island of Rameswaram to the mainland. In 2018, the bascule of this bridge was damaged. This damage ended the transportation on the bridge.

In 1988, a road bridge was also constructed parallel to the rail bridge. This road bridge is also known as Indira Gandhi Road Bridge. The Pamban Road Bridge connects the National Highway (NH 49) with the Rameswaram island. It stands on the Palk Strait and between the shores of Mandapam (a place on the Indian mainland) and Pamban (one of the fishermen town in Rameswaram island).

The rail bridge is, for the most part, a conventional bridge resting on concrete piers, but has a double-leaf bascule section midway, which can be raised to let ships and barges pass through. As can be seen in the video.

However, the 104-year-old which has a total length of 2,058 m bridge shall be soon replaced as the Railways plans to build the country’s first vertical-lift bridge that will make way for ships and steamers to pass through has already been approved by the Ministry.

The more than two-kilometre-long bridge, which is likely to cost Rs 250 crore, will have a 63-metre stretch which will lift up while remaining parallel to the deck to allow access to the ships, the official said.

Here is the video which shows how the new bridge shall work.

It will be ready in the next four years, and along with the new railway link between Rameswaram in Pamban Island and Dhanuskodi, which is considered the starting point of Ram Setu, will help ferry thousands of pilgrims from the Hindu religious site to the mainland.

A cyclone had destroyed the rail link between the two sites in 1964 and since then, this is the first effort to restore the link, the official said.

The new bridge will have 100 spans of 18.3m and one navigational span of 63m.

It will be three-metre higher than the existing bridge with navigational air clearance of 22 metre above sea level. Because of the vertical lift, full horizontal width of 63m will be available for navigation.

In comparison to existing manual operation and control, the new bridge will have electro mechanical controlled systems which will be interlocked with train control systems. Many other new technologies like stainless steel reinforcement, composite sleepers and long life painting system to name a few have been considered in planning of the bridge.

So, why wait, just don’t miss the opportunity to experience the joy of travelling on the train over a sea. As the new bridge is going to be taller and ” Samandar aur aapke beech ka fasla aur jyada ho jaynenga Yatriyon……”.

References and credit :

Video Courtesy : Financial Express Youtube
Content reference Financial express and Wikipedia.
Picture courtesy : Google images

Pic 1 https://www.theweek.in/webworld/features/lifestyle/Discover-the-less-explored-pamban-island.html

Pic 2 : https://www.pinterest.com/pin/120752833737231048

Isn’t it boring to stare at the blank walls of railway station while waiting for the trains, the starting of the journey itself sounds so dull and sad, but not anymore.

Satrangi Creations, as the name itself suggests, the group of enthusiastic artists have taken up the challenge to make the walls of railway stations painted with the famous tourist spots, portraits of our National legends and some beautiful graffiti.

Yes, now the walls won’t be just walls but are going to be a center of attraction. Beautiful artwork by the excellent artists portraying the legends of India, India’s top travel destinations and also some record breaking artwork done by the artists.

Without wasting time lets get to know about Satrangi Creations and the work the team has already done and also there upcoming projects.

Initiative of Mr. Nilesh Nagar has some beautiful outcomes, few glimpses of the walls are presented for you.

Nimach was the first Station beautified by the team Satrangi.

Artwork at Nimach Railway Station

Nimach Station art work was sponsored by Central Reserve Police Force. Nimach is birth place of CRPF so Team Satrangi Creations has depicted CRPF’s valour and sacrifice on the walls of Station. Nimach became first railway Station in India to get brush of patriotism. Few school kids wanted to join us so we welcomed them and they worked with our artists shoulder to shoulder in general beautification work.

Director general CRPF, ADG & Senior Officers visited Station. ADG Madhya Pradesh state police too visited and appreciated team work of Satrangi Creations.

Artwork at Patalpani and Kalakund Railway Station

Team Satrangi Creations were given work to beautify Patalpani & Kalakund Railway Station under prestigious Railway heritage section project. It has meter gauge line which was laid by queen Ahilyabai Holkar in 1870. Surrounded by beautiful mountains and waterfalls makes this area awesome. Beautifying it with the theme of nature n wild life.

Honorable Minister of Railways Shri Piyush Goyal along with Chairman Railway Board will be inaugurating it on 25th December. It will be a big boost for tourism through railways.

Artwork at Indore Railway Station

Indore being financial capital of Madhya Pradesh and number one city in cleanliness Team Satrangi Creations put extra efforts to make it look more beautiful. And the station is being painted with heart at teams own cost. Work is in progress at Indore.

Artwork at Ratlam Railway Station

Ratlam Divisional head quarter sponsored by JK cement and Team Satrangi Creations. Huge appreciation came even hash tag of #JabWeMet Station floated in twitter and Facebook.

Longest Graffiti pictures from Mandsaur Railway Station

Team Satrangi Creations beautified Mandsaur Station on there own as after lot of efforts no one came forward to help. Team Satrangi Creations has made longest graffiti of 8145 Sq ft in India at any railway Station. Finally hard work paid off and they were awarded by Ministry Of Railways for this unique idea at Mandsaur in a function at Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. We stood 4th for Mandsaur in Nationwide ranking of beautification of railway Stations last year.

The origination of the idea : Project Satrangi Bharat

It all started in the mind of Shri Nilesh Nagar, Project Head & Art Director, Satrangi Creations who was very upset with the conditions of the railway stations which he saw during his train journey. Being from Indore, Madhya Pradesh he didn’t liked the situation of walls and surrounding areas of the station.

He thought, “why not we do art work on walls so that people will at least think before spitting on it. Railway being public property is ours. Why only railway authorities have responsibilities to clean it & why they should clean our spit?” thought Shri Nagar

It was just an idea without a start on account of permission and resources. Soon with the help of TTE personnel common friend of Mr. Nagar, a meeting was fixed with Sr. DCM and DRM of Ratlam and a proposal was put forward .Impressed with the presentation & idea. DRM accepted the offer and gave permission for few stations to start with.

Initially, funds for the cause was main problem, we decided to look for sponsorship or CSR funding. Worked very hard, got rejected everywhere. However, It is truly said that when you stand for a noble cause people will join you and that is what happened. We came across an officer of CRPF, while in discussion we came to know that Nimach, Madhya Pradesh ( one of Stations given to us for art work) is the birth place of CRPF. Idea clicked, we decided to take sponsorship from CRPF. Somehow we got Appointment with their senior officers at New Delhi and went there with the proposal of portraying CRPF & it valour on the walls of Nimach railway Station.

They listened to us carefully and were enthusiastic that this can actually happen. They took us to their Additional Director General and then it all started. They agreed to sponsor us. The amount was nominal but it was enough for us to start with. They arranged our artists stay & food as well as paints for the art work. We arranged the artists & started working on Nimach railway Station walls. It took 25 days to complete the art work on Nimach railway station.

Lot of appreciation came and the journey started. We were working hard again to look for sponsorship for next Station. After struggling for so many days we didn’t got any but had some funds so we decided to go for Mandsaur Railway Station from our own funds. It had a big wall of 8144 Sq feet long. We did graffiti on it and it became longest graffiti made at any railway station in India. Huge appreciations and admiration came in.

We were told that after looking at our work JK Cement wanted to sponsor Ratlam Station under CSR funds. We were more than happy with this, our hard work was giving results. We started working on Ratlam and completed it soon.

In the mean time we were informed that there was a ranking of beautification of railway Stations and we are to be rewarded by Hon. Minister of Railways and Chairman Railway Board at Rail Bhawan for our efforts for Mandsor railway station. That pushed us for more hard work and becoming in top 3 position in the next year ranking.

We had no funds for further railway stations, struggled but results came. So somehow we started at Indore railway station on our own which is still ongoing. While working at Indore we got offer from Bhusawal Division to beautify their Stations. Nilesh went there and discussed, they had sponsor too for Jalgaon. We accepted the offer and started working on Bhusawal and Jalgaon both.

Ratlam Division is developing Patalpani & Kalakund railway track as heritage section which was made in 1870. Lush green area and water falls, wild life and adventure. They decided to get both the railway stations as well as tunnels get makeover with the art work. Looking at our long association with them and being witness of our hard work and dedication, they decided to give it to us. So here we r working on the prestigious railway heritage line project. To be inaugurated by Hon. Railway Minister and Chairman Railway Board on 25th December.

Best thing of the project is that we have picked up artists who have talent but don’t get exposure due to their circumstances and situations of being from poor & rural background. Due to our project they are not only getting exposure and experience but also livelihood. All of them are doing bachelor of fine arts or master of fine arts from different colleges in Madhya Pradesh. In this process they are becoming independent and get money to pay their college fee and not dependent on their respective families to pay for fee and other expenses.

The Man behind the idea Mr. Nilesh Nagar.

Mr. Nilesh Nagar

Receiving the award

Project Satrangi Bharat is not just a project it’s our unique idea, & idea is to beautify every corner of our country and make India truly Incredible.

So, the next time if you come across some beautiful artwork at the railway stations, do not forget to tag and share with Satrangi Creations a token of appreciation towards there beautiful contribution in beautification of our stations.

Information and pictures for this article are shared by Mr. Abhishek Sharma, web manager of Satrangi Creations.

Satrangi creations can be followed on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/satrangi_creations_india/

Do share in comments section your valuable feedback.

Tag: railminindia

Pamban Bridge – The scenic beauty to be replaced soon.

Who is making the railway stations beautiful ?