After a week-long struggle, engineers of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) managed to pull out the pontoon carrying a crane that got stuck under the old Pamban rail bridge on the night of November 9.
It was one of the eight pontoons deployed by RVNL involved in construction of the new Pamban rail bridge parallel to the existing century-old rail bridge. Strong current in the sea has been putting the officials in a lot of hardship in keeping the floating structures under control and prevent them from getting drifted towards old Pamban bridge.
After the pontoons got drifted towards the bridge twice, the officials decided to pull all the pontoons carrying the rigs and cranes to the shore. Even as they started to erect fender piles in between the heavy machineries and the old bridge, the worsening weather conditions forced another pontoon to hit the bridge.
“As of now, the work in the sea has been suspended and four pontoons have already been pulled back. Work on pulling back another four would be taken up soon,” an engineer said.
While work would resume in the middle portion of the sea bridge after the weather condition improved, the officials have decided to take up work on the approach side till then.
