India is growing outwards. In another remarkable milestone, ahead of the inauguration of the Srinagar rail line later this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Pamban bridge—India’s first vertical lift sea bridge across the Palk strait—in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, on Sunday. This rail bridge facilitates safer and quicker train transit connecting the Pamban island with the rest of the country as well as the movement of larger ships.
This is yet another step toward seamless, safer and efficient rail connectivity between India and Sri Lanka across the Palk strait, which would connect Rameswaram in India with Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. What is required is the restoration of a 17 km rail line from Rameswaram to Dhanushkodi, and the construction of a 23 km rail bridge parallel to Ram Setu connecting to Talaimannar. Once completed, this would establish a seamless rail network that facilitates regional integration in South Asia.
Nine years ago, Prime Minister Modi unveiled a plaque inaugurating the Talaimannar 1650 Pier Railway Station and flagged off a train from this northwestern town to Colombo. This newly constructed 63 km rail line connecting Talaimannar to Medawachchiya was constructed by IRCON, an Indian Railway CPSU, financed through an Indian line of credit.
The unprecedented regional connectivity initiatives launched by the government of India over the last decade are visible in its proactive outreach and infrastructure assistance across South and Southeast Asia—quite a significant policy transformation from its earlier ‘Look East’ to the more assertive ‘Act East’ policy. India’s efforts in developing multimodal infrastructure—rail, road, coastal shipping, and aviation—across South Asia could well be one of the most significant developments in establishing geoeconomics over geopolitics. The vision of shared prosperity through regional integration is the underlying principle guiding India’s current bilateral and multilateral policies.
In addition to road, aviation, and coastal shipping connectivity in South Asia, regional rail integration has received prominent focus. Many rail projects connecting India with Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar are being aggressively planned, financed, constructed, and operationalised.
Also read: 7 critical pacts signed during Modi’s visit as India, Sri Lanka give fresh impetus to bilateral ties
India-Sri Lanka rail connectivity is possible now
Seamless rail connectivity with Sri Lanka—an island nation—once seemed unlikely. Even in the earlier UN Trans-Asian Railway Agreement, the identified rail route was a rail-cum-sea route with ferry crossings between Rameswaram and Talaimannar. The SAARC Regional Multimodal Transport Study (SRMTS) also identified such a route. But transhipment of passengers and goods between rail and sea modes makes transport inefficient, time-consuming, and cumbersome. One example is the ferry crossing over Lake Van (Tatvan) in Turkey, which hampers seamless rail movement across South and West Asia.
The India-Sri Lanka railway connectivity is perhaps an idea whose time has now come. Historically, it was proposed around 1914 when the original Pamban rail bridge was commissioned. The idea was shelved due to high costs, and the rail line was terminated at Dhanushkodi, with ferries transporting goods and passengers to Talaimannar. Stories of the Boat Mail connecting Colombo and Madras—with reserved compartments for Buddhist monks travelling to Bodh Gaya—are well documented. It was a marvel of early 20th-century engineering to have a lifting rail bridge providing ship clearance across the Palk Strait. Now, 110 years later, that bridge is being replaced with India’s first vertical lift sea bridge, designed to allow safer and quicker passage for both trains and ships.
The new Pamban vertical lift bridge—2 km long and constructed adjacent to the old Pamban rail bridge—is taller and features a 72-metre-long span that can be raised to 22 metres to allow the passage of larger ships. Sanctioned in February 2019, the project was assigned to RVNL (Rail Vikas Nigam Limited) and has been built at a cost of around Rs 535 crore, with the design developed by Spanish firm M/S TYPSA. It is the second vertical lift railway bridge in the world after Hamburg’s Kattwyk bridge.
However, the Palk strait, with its shallow draft, and the Pamban bridge, with limited vertical clearance, are not fit for Panamax ships, which require a 12-metre draft and over 60 metres of vertical clearance. These limitations rule out the Palk Strait as an alternate shipping route to Hambantota or Colombo. This strengthens the case for a dedicated rail-cum-road bridge from Dhanushkodi to Talaimannar, which would not interfere with future shipping routes.
While the new bridge will take pilgrims and tourists to Rameswaram by trains, extending connectivity to Sri Lanka is still a challenge. Restoration work on the 17 km Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi rail line, though sanctioned, is stalled due to environmental and other clearances pending with the state government.
Once this rail stretch is restored, the next step is the proposed 23 km bridge parallel to Ram Setu connecting Dhanushkodi to Talaimannar. The ambitious land bridge project has long been under discussion. It is time for a bilateral agreement. Once a feasibility study and final location survey are completed, a financing model—possibly combining grants and loans—can be worked out bilaterally, with possible involvement of Multilateral Financial Institutions (MFIs) to finalise India-Sri Lanka rail connectivity.
India and Sri Lanka have strategic interests
Sri Lanka Railways, a broad-gauge network of over 1500 km tracing its history to the mid-19th century, operates across three divisions—Colombo, Anuradhapura, and Nawalapitiya—and connects major towns. Planned extensions aim to reach Hambantota Port. The recently extended line from Medawachchiya to Talaimannar has connected this northwestern town to Colombo by rail. Sri Lanka now looks to a land bridge, parallel to Ram Setu, to connect with Dhanushkodi. This proposed link would boost both trade and tourism, currently restricted by the absence of connectivity.
India is also one of Sri Lanka’s most important trading partners, and vice versa, within the SAARC region. Bilateral trade in FY 2023-24 reached $ 5.5 billion (India’s exports at $ 4.1 billion; Sri Lanka’s exports at $ 1.4 billion). This trade is supported by India’s credit lines and infrastructure investments. During a recent visit by India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Sri Lanka, it was conveyed that the payment for seven completed projects worth $ 20 million could be converted into a grant.
IRCON, under the Ministry of Railways, has undertaken many rail projects in Sri Lanka. These include Madhu Road-Talaimannar line and the Pallai-Kankesanthurai reconstruction, costing $ 164 million and $ 154 million respectively. Current projects include the upgradation of the Maho-Omanthai railway line ($ 91.27 million) and installation of signalling from Maho to Anuradhapura ($ 14.9 million), both funded through Indian lines of credit.
A rail-road bridge connecting Dhanushkodi (India) to Talaimannar (Sri Lanka) will serve as a strategic pivot for both nations—for trade, tourism, and economic and geopolitical interests. In today’s interdependent world, the physical integration of regions through transport infrastructure is essential.
In this regard, India is a leader in regional connectivity, linking South Asia with ASEAN through the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway and rail networks, and connecting to West Asia and Europe through the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC). This is not just acting or looking outward, it is growing outward.
Connecting Sri Lanka through a 23 km bridge must now be a priority. A feasibility study and Final Location Survey must be sanctioned to assess costs and benefits and to carry the initiative forward.
Investing in infrastructure that connects countries and regions for generations is a policy imperative for sustained growth—just as the 110-year-old Pamban bridge once was. A new India-Sri Lanka bridge would be a legacy project with ripple effects across the region and into the future.
Mohammad Jamshed is a Distinguished Fellow at CRF and former member of Traffic Railway Board. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)
Uplifting and a positive outlook opinion peice. Prompted me to look up on Google Maps. True – such a short distance geographically. Why can’t we have such regional connectivity that Europeans enjoy?