: RITES Limited, an engineering consultancy company specialising in transport infrastructure, has submitted a feasibility report to the Ministry of Shipping, suggesting that the Sethusamudram Ship Channel project could be implemented through the existing Pamban channel, which separates the mainland from Rameswaram island.
As the Centre did not want to disturb the Ram Sethu and there was opposition to implementing the project through other alignments, RITES has suggested that the Pamban channel could be dredged to 12 metres and the 65.23-metre-long rolling type Scherzer span replaced to pave the way for the passage of vessels in the 30,000 tonne class.
“We have suggested 12 metre dredging in the first phase,” a top source in RITES told The Hindu .
In the second phase, RITES Limited would explore tunnel railway under the sea for allowing heavier class vessels to pass through the channel, the sources said.
The existing manual Scherzer span would be replaced with a modernised and mechanised horizontal orientation type span after widening it to 90 metres. The modernised span could be operated by the press of a button, the source said. Simultaneously, the navigational spans in the rail bridge would be widened and strengthened, he said.
