land of Incredible India., always preferred a train journey.I can never forget a train journey on the Pamban Bridge which connects
Rameswaram Island to the mainland.In real that was hair raising train journey, which
I enjoyed on way to Ramesvaram.
The Pamban Bridge is a
railway bridge on the Palk Strait which connects the town of Rameswaram on Pamban
Island to mainland of India. The
bridge refers to both the road bridge and the cantilever railway bridge, though
primarily it means the latter.
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.
waters till as far as your eyes can see. The Pamban bridge is
only 1 meter wide and 2.5 km long. The speed is reduced to 20-30 km/hr while
the train is on this vulnerable bridge. The experience was totally a life long
hair raising Rail Ride.
sea was near Mandapam halt.It was early evening when train halted there for a
brief period .Few passengers boarded down and few up.
Sea was visible on both
sides, as the train moved ahead Mandapam. Road was parallel to the
tracks. The landscape changed rapidly and signaled that we were
approaching coastal area.
uninterrupted viewing, I went to the door.The calm and peaceful
Arabian sea was in my full sight.The blue sky was bowed somewhere in horizon to
meet sea.There was playing a colorful magic in west of sky.
palms and more of oil palms and fruit (Palmyra) palms. The terrain too changed,
and the area had more of dry sand than soil.I took my camera and focused to
capture this life time hair raising journey .Soon I realized, better to save the
whole scenes in memory chip of my mind my heart, that will never fade with
time.
This was a prized moment –
a moment that I had been waiting for a long time. The train slowly crawled its
way towards Rameswaram – over Pamban Bridge. The bay was green in color and
very attractive unlike the brackish color seen in the Arabian Sea. Fishing
activities were at its peak – Train took about 15 minutes time to cover 2.3 kms
long Pamban Bridge.
It was late evening time of sunset, Bursts of gold on lavender melting into saffron.
It’s the time of day when the sky looks like it has been spray-painted by a
graffiti artist.The mighty ocean was below my feet; suddenly a fragrant breeze wandered up from the quiet sea,
touched me and drifted back to the sea again.
train passed through an area that closely resembles a desert – its sand dunes
all around. The sidings at Pamban station was all mired in sand. The train
picked up speed after Pamlban. The road still runs parallel to the tracks. We
finally reached Rameswaram station at 19.30 – late about 1 hour.
railway plate form of Rameshvaram. Before exit from here we thought to have hot
coffee and some snakes. There were
plenty of autos available outside station.Hired an auto for advance booked
hotel Agnee teertham (Tamil Nadu Tourism Corporation Hotel).
in Rameswaram and ghost town of Dhanushkodi beach.
by Engr Maqbool Akram.
