Tower Bridge

Pamban Bridge (named after the place at one end) lies between Indian main land

and Rameswaram island. It was the longest sea bridge for almost a century in India

(built in 1914) until Worli – Bandra sea bridge was built in Mumbai a few years ago.
Now it is the second.

Besides this, it is also a cantilever bridge that opens up in the middle to allow

ships to pass by like the Tower Bridge in London.

It was damaged in a cyclone in 1964 and was restored in just 46 days by E Sreedharan

the father of Delhi Metro.That cyclone had however damaged the link from Pamban to

Dhanuskodi town that vanished in the cyclone, thereby cutting the rail link between India

and Sri Lanka. Along with it went away the name Boat Mail for Madras – Dhanuskodi train.

Boat mail ? yes, because from Dhanuskodi, the passengers used to take a ferry to
Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka and continued their onward train journey all the way to Colombo.
Since the Madras train connected to a boat at the end of the journey, it was called
Boat Mail. This train was also known as Indo Ceylon Express in very early days.