The unique Scherzer’s Span of the 100-year-old Pamban Bridge has attained its service life and will need to be replaced for the future sustainability of the historic structure, according to E. Sreedharan, the man who fashioned the Delhi Metro, the Konkan Railway and led a record restoration of the cantilever bridge after it was devastated in a 1964 cyclone.
“As the bridge is situated in a marine environment there is corrosion of the steel girders and they require periodic replacement...perhaps even replacement of steel with pre-stressed concrete.
The Scherzer’s has completed its life span and we need to evolve another suitable cantilever structure that will allow ships to pass under the rail bridge,” Mr. Sreedharan told the media.
Mr. Sreedharan, who is Principal Adviser, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, was here to launch a souvenir and a photo exhibition to mark the valedictory of month-long centenary celebrations of the Pamban Bridge hosted by the Southern Railway.
“I am thrilled to see these photographs…nostalgic memories come rushing back,” said the man who had 49 years back led a team of railway engineers, inspectors and a group of ‘Mappila Khilasis’ (a community in Kerala once famous for using pulleys to move massive structures) to restore the cyclone-ravaged Pamban Bridge that served as a conduit across Palk Strait to then Ceylon---by rail up to Dhanushkodi and by boat from there to Talaimannar.
Such was the extent of the damage that “there was no sign of the bridge” and only a few piers stuck out from the sea though the Scherzer’s Span miraculously survived the tidal waves. Racing against a six-month deadline by the Railways, Mr. Sreedharan’s team completed the feat in a record time of 46 days. “Now, as I look back, I wonder how we managed to achieve the feat,” he mused. It was a triumph of team work and helped by the freedom given by the Railways to innovate _ such as salvaging the girders lost in the sea _ and absence of any cap on expenditure.
It is little wonder that for someone who regards the assignment as “divine dispensation” that the restoration of the Pamban Bridge remains the project closest to his heart.
Keywords: Scherzer’s Span, 100-year-old Pamban Bridge, E. Sreedharan
Mr. Sreedharan's comment that the Scherer's Span of the Pamban bridge
will inevitably have to be replaced due to corrosive damage is a
strange statement, as there are hundred of bridges the world over in
similar environments that are not about to fail. All it points to is
that the routine and scheduled maintenance work that should have taken
place over the years was not done, and the bridge was allowed to rust
and become dangerously damaged. The world famous Golden Gate Bridge at
the Pacific entrance to San Francisco Bay in California is a steel
suspension bridge in top condition, because it is constantly undergoing
repainting with anti-rust preservative paint. It would be unthinkable
to say that that the Golden Gate Bridge would have to be torn down and
replaced with another. That bridge is in a very exposed location, and
bathed both in salty sea mist and heavy fog on occasion. It has been in
constant use, day and night, since May, 1938. it is too late for the
Scherer's span.
The smile in respected E.Sreedharan's face says it all. Salutes Sir.
Ideally, you deserved the Bharat Ratna
Mr.E.Sreedharan is an amusement that he virtually done such complicated
matters unbelievably !
Nothing personal against Mr. Sreedharan.
It is a shame that the Indian system has not groomed another Sreedharan.
Do we have only One Engineer to build all Tracks in the Country ?
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