After a gap of five days, the Southern Railway operated the Rameswaram – Chennai Express (16852) with passengers on Pamban rail bridge on Tuesday as the velocity of wind was below the permissible limit of 58 km per hour.
After terminating the Madurai – Rameswaram passenger at Mandapam, the authorities operated the express from Rameswaram, giving a sigh of relief to the passengers, who had been visiting the pilgrim island in large numbers on the occasion of Aadi Thirukalyanam festival that was held at the Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple.
After gusty wind hit train services on the bridge, delaying the Chennai, Kanniyakumari, Tirupathy and Okha express trains by more than four hours on August 1 and 2, the authorities had started moving empty rakes on the bridge to avoid delays and considering the safety of passengers in the last three days.
They operated the express trains from Mandapam after transporting passengers from Rameswaram in buses.
Rough sea
Meanwhile, the Pamban port authorities hoisted warning signal 1 at Pamban Port in view of the depression over northwest Bay of Bengal.
As the sea became rough, fishermen in Rameswaram, Pamban and Mandapam areas have been abstaining from venturing into the sea for fishing during the last three days.
The Fisheries Department has advised both the mechanised and country boat fishermen not to venture into the sea till further orders.
