Pamban Railway Bridge

Pamban Railway Bridge is a historic railway sea bridge connecting Mandapam on the mainland with Pamban Island and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. Spanning 2.07 km across the Palk Strait, the original 1914 Scherzer rolling-lift bridge was India's first sea bridge. A new vertical-lift bridge, India's first, was commissioned in 2025 alongside it, noted for its engineering and scenic ocean setting.

Visitors can view the railway bridge spanning the Palk Strait from the adjacent Annai Indira Gandhi Road Bridge and designated viewpoints at Pamban. The setting offers open sea views, fishing boats, and turquoise waters. Visitors cannot walk on the railway track itself but can watch trains cross the bridge, photograph the structure and lift span, and experience the coastal landscape connecting mainland Tamil Nadu to Rameswaram Island.

The original Pamban Bridge was constructed by the British and opened on 24 February 1914 as India's first sea bridge, featuring a Scherzer rolling lift span to allow ship passage. It survived the 1964 Rameswaram cyclone and served for over a century before being decommissioned in December 2022 due to corrosion. A new 2.07 km vertical-lift bridge with a 72.5 m lift span was built by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited and commissioned in April 2025.

The bridge is the vital rail link to Rameswaram, a major pilgrimage town and part of the Char Dham, enabling pilgrims to reach Ramanathaswamy Temple. It is regarded as an engineering landmark of Tamil Nadu and a symbol of connectivity between mainland India and Pamban Island.