The
Pamban Bridge is situated in Tamil Nadu, India. It is the second longest
railway SEA BRIDGE(2km) in India was
built in 1914, during the British rule in India. At the entrance of the Pamban bridge
you can see a picture of a weeping man holding some human body parts close to
his chest which was washed away in the last cyclone.
The
construction of the Pamban bridge began in 1911 and it was opened in 1914.
Pamban bridge is a cantilever bridge, that it has structures that project
horizontally into space, supported only on one end.
The
2.057 km long bridge, also known as Bridge No.346 in Indian Railway reference,
consists of over 140 spans. The amazing feature of a double-leaf section that
the centre portion of the bridge could be lifted with the help of huge wheels,
so that ships could easily pass under the bridge was designed by German engineer Scherzer. The
114th span, midway along the bridge, is this called the Scherzer span.
The
story says in this way……
A
middle aged man was appointed to roll the wheels up and down when ships arrive.
Once he saw a train slowly approaching, while he was pulling back the bridge
after a ship quietly passed beneath. He had to pull back quickly or else there
would be a fatal accident and thousands would have died.
At
that time his 9 year old son came with lunch. When he saw his father struggling
with the wheels, he kept the lunch box down and started helping him to roll the
wheels to put the bridge back. Suddenly his son’s finger got caught inside the
wheel and he started crying out. At this time if the father tries to save his
son, the bridge could not be put back on time. He had no other option but to
ignore his son’s cry. With all his strength he kept on rolling the wheels to
down the bridge. As the wheels rolled on, his son slowly started slipping away
into the huge machine.
Tears
rolled down his father’s cheeks, but he ignored his son’s cry. If he tried to
save him, the train will surely fall into the sea and thousands of people will
die. Slowly the boy’s whole body fell into the machine and his father could
hear his bones breaking one by one, until with a loud sound, his head cracked.
The
train with thousands of passengers slowly rolled on the rails, without knowing
what had happened there. Though this man performed his duty honestly he lost
his only loving son. With extreme lamentation, he pulled out his son’s body
parts from the machine and held it close to his chest and cried bitterly.
British Government
honoured him greatly and in memory of this incident they placed the picture at
the entrance of the bridge.
