The Manamadurai–Rameswaram branch line is a branch railway line in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The line starts at

Manamadurai Manamadurai is a Municipality Town in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Manamadurai falls under Manamadurai Legislative assembly. Upgradation of Manamadurai to Municipality Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru made ...

and ends at

Rameswaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilo ...

History

The

Madras Railway The Madras Railway (full name Madras Railway Company) played a pioneering role in developing railways in southern India and was merged in 1908 with Southern Mahratta Railway to form Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway. The Madras Railway was ...

laid the

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

lines viz.

–

Mandapam Mandapam is a panchayat town in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The famed Pamban Railway bridge and Vehicular bridge lie to the East of this Panchayat Town. Mandapam is Tamil Nadu’s largest refugee camp for Sri La ...

line in 1902, Mandapam–

Pamban Pamban is a town in the Rameswaram taluk of Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu. It is at the west edge of Pamban Island and is a popular fishing port. The town gives its name to the whole island. Pamban railway station is the first station on t ...

line in 1914, Pamban–Rameswaram line in 1906 and Pamban–

Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is south-east of Pamban and is about west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cyclo ...

line in 1908. During 1964 Rameshwaram Cyclone, the Pamban–Dhanushkodi section was completely damaged and was dismantled afterwards and was never rebuilt by Indian railways. This is because of the declarement of dhanushkodi as 'The Ghost Town' by madras(chennai) government. The Madurai–Manamadurai–Rameshwaram section was entirely converted to

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

in 2006.

Future

There are plans to build a rail-cum-road bridge or tunnel from India to Sri Lanka. It would be built via Rameshwaram or Dhanushkodi. Funds has been allocated for the reconstruction of Dhanushkodi Railway Line.

References

External links

Southern Railways - Official Website
5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India * Railway lines closed in 1964 Transport in Rameswaram Railway lines opened in 1908 {{India-rail-transport-stub