In the annals of India’s railway history lie countless forgotten halts and abandoned alignments, but few are as poignant as the tale of the lost station of Rameswaram Road, otherwise called Puthu Road. Once a modest node on the fabled Indo–Ceylon route, this station bore silent witness to the intertwining destinies of South India and Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), until nature’s fury and political upheavals consigned it to oblivion.
A Journey into the Past
My own acquaintance with this vestige occurred during a recent visit to Pamban Island. Though I had traversed these shores before, it was only on this occasion that I embarked upon a deliberate quest to trace the erstwhile metre-gauge line that once ran from Pamban Junction to Dhanushkodi Pier. Beyond this terminus, the voyage continued not on rails but by steamer across the Palk Strait to Thalaimannar in Ceylon, and thence by rail again to Colombo and other colonial towns.
This seamless intermodal journey — train, steamer, train again — embodied the very idea of connected civilisations. It was not merely transport but a bridge of culture, commerce, and kinship
The Unfulfilled Dream Across the Palk Strait
Long before the rhythmic clatter of trains reached the coral shores of Rameswaram, a grander vision shimmered upon the colonial horizon — the audacious dream of uniting the Indian peninsula with Ceylon by an unbroken chain of iron across the sea. The conception first took form in 1876, when engineers of the South Indian Railway dared to imagine a continuous rail corridor stretching from Dhanushkodi to Talaimannar, traversing the shallow expanse of the Palk Strait. That same year, Executive Engineer H. W. Perry undertook an exploratory survey of the route, tracing on parchment what would one day stir the imagination of empires — a railway that kissed the waves.
Yet, as with many grand designs of empire, the scheme languished in the bureaucratic quietude of officialdom. Only in 1894 did the proposal resurface in earnest, when renewed correspondence between the Madras Presidency and the Government of Ceylon revived hopes of a maritime railway link. Perry’s eventual report, submitted in 1907, placed the projected cost of the sea bridge at an astronomical Rs 250 lakhs — a sum that rendered the venture untenable for its time.
The dream, however, refused to perish. On 25 November 1908, a historic conference convened at Dhanushkodi brought together the Governor of Madras, the Governor of Ceylon, and the Chairman of the Railway Board. There, upon the very sands where the continents seemed to almost touch, a compromise was struck. Rather than an entire causeway across the Strait, it was resolved to construct a viaduct from the Indian mainland to Pamban Island, crowned by a Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge to span the Pamban Pass. Between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar, a fleet of ocean-going steamers would complete the journey — thus weaving together two lands by a marriage of rail and tide.
Work upon the viaduct commenced in June 1911, and by June 1913 the mighty girders had taken form against the southern sky. Construction of the Scherzer Bridge followed swiftly in July 1913, its ingenious bascule mechanism — capable of lifting to permit the passage of ships — completed with mechanical precision by December of that same year. Finally, on 24 February 1914, the Pamban Bridge was formally opened to traffic, in solemn synchrony with the inauguration of the Dhanushkodi–Talaimannar steamer service.
Thus, after nearly four decades of speculation and striving, the iron road at last reached the edge of the sea. From that moment onward, the rails to Dhanushkodi were no longer a terminus, but a threshold — a gateway to another world across the shimmering waters of the Palk Strait.
The Demise of the Indo–Ceylon Ferry
Alas, the Indo–Ceylon ferry service, already weakened by the cataclysmic cyclone of 1964, finally met its demise in 1984, following assaults by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the post-1964 interregnum, the service had shifted to Rameswaram’s fishing harbour, yet the romance of the old alignment was never recaptured.
Encounter with a Vanished Station
En route to Kodandaramar Temple near Mukundarayar Chathiram, my auto-rickshaw driver — a veritable oral historian in his own right — revealed to me the ghostly remains of this lost station. Local lore identifies it as Rameswaram Road or Puthu Road, an outpost that once bore the bustle of pilgrims and traders alike. Today, little survives but the pedestal of a solitary water tank, a mute sentinel of what was washed away on 26 December 1964 by the infamous cyclone.
This station had served not only Rameswaram town but also travellers who sought an alternative to the principal Rameswaram station. Its alignment cut diagonally towards Pamban Junction, a modest geometry of steel that once connected two worlds.
The Cyclone Tragedy of 1964
The tragedy of 22 December 1964 is writ large in the memory of India’s railways. At precisely 23:55 hours, train no. 653 — the Pamban Junction–Dhanushkodi Passenger — carrying 110 passengers and five railway staff, was engulfed by the fury of storm and surge while entering Dhanushkodi station. In a matter of minutes, all 115 souls perished, swept away by tidal waves of apocalyptic force. Sic transit gloria mundi — thus passes the glory of the world.
The Highway that Replaced the Rails
By 1990, whatever vestiges of the metre-gauge line still lingered were uprooted. The alignment metamorphosed into a two-lane artery of the modern republic: National Highway 55 (formerly NH 49). Motorcars now speed over what was once the passage of the Indo–Ceylon Express, blithely unaware of the ghosts that haunt their tarmac.
The Passing of the Pamban Viaduct
The original Pamban Viaduct — that magnificent steel artery which had carried trains across the sea since 1914 — now belongs to history. The famed Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge, once the pride of the South Indian Railway / Southern Railway and the first of its kind in India, has been dismantled, its riveted spans yielding to the march of time and technology. In its place now stands the new Pamban Bridge, a modern engineering marvel equipped with state-of-the-art lifting mechanisms and digital controls, inaugurated for service in 2024. Yet, even as the new bridge gleams in steel and precision, it inherits the solemn legacy of its predecessor — a bridge that had defied tempests, borne the passage of empires, and symbolised the maritime soul of India’s railways. The sea remains the same, but the song of the rails has changed — one of renewal rather than remembrance.
Location of the station shown in map :
The Steamer Connection: S.S. Irwin
Integral to this Indo–Ceylon link was the steamer S.S. Irwin, the stalwart vessel that plied between Dhanushkodi and Thalaimannar. Built in 1929 and commissioned in 1930, she measured 259 feet in length and 38 feet across the beam, with a tonnage of 970.11 gross and 377.39 registered. Her capacity, inclement weather, was an impressive 1,552 passengers, reduced to 1,045 in turbulent seas. Cruising at approximately 10 knots, she was not merely a ship but a floating bridge between two nations.
The very name “Boat Mail” evokes nostalgia: a train from Madras (now Chennai) connecting seamlessly with a steamer to Ceylon, an imperial choreography of rail and sail.
S S Irwin model:
Lost railway line :
The British Military Stamp
Among the archaeological remains are iron sleepers stamped with the abbreviation M&SMB, believed to signify the Material and Systems Management Branch of the British Indian Army. Such insignia hint that this line was not only civil infrastructure but also carried strategic import, binding together the colonial territories in times of war and peace.
Twisted Rails and crossing frog rails, Sleepers.
Water Tank of Puthu Road / Rameswaram Road Station. Now abandoned.
Rusted Circular Steel Sleepers
Epilogue: The Vanishing of Memory
Today, nothing remains of Puthu Road station save the echoes of recollection. Once scattered relics whispered of a railway that stitched together India and Ceylon, of a community obliterated by cyclone, and of a maritime corridor since supplanted by the prosaic highway. Yet even those vestiges, which lingered for decades to tantalise the railway antiquarian, were erased by 2023. The last iron sleepers, embankments, and tell-tale remnants were swept aside in the name of progress and road expansion.
What endures now is not masonry nor metal, but memoria alone — oral traditions, fading photographs, and the imagination of those who cherish India’s railway past. In contemplating this forgotten station, one confronts the memento mori of human endeavour: that all our grandest infrastructures, like the very empires that built them, are but transient.
Thus, the tale of Rameswaram Road (Puthu Road) is no mere footnote; it is a chapter in the palimpsest of history, awaiting rediscovery by each pilgrim who dares to listen, even when the land itself has effaced its traces.
Coda of Memory
What remains of the Rameswaram–Dhanushkodi line is no longer of iron or timber, but of recollection — a railway that continues to run, not upon tracks, but through memory. Each vanished sleeper, each dismantled pier, whispers of a time when the Indian Railways reached the edge of two worlds and dared to cross the sea.
In remembering such lost alignments, we do more than chronicle decay; we restore dignity to the forgotten geographies of movement — those liminal spaces where travel once became history.
Glossary & Locutions
Compiled by the author from field notes, oral testimony, and archival railway records — this glossary elucidates historical, geographical, and technical expressions interwoven throughout the chronicle, serving as a modest companion to the vanished lexicon of India’s maritime railways.
Palk Strait — The shallow stretch of sea separating India from Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), named after Robert Palk, Governor of Madras between 1755 and 1763. For centuries, it has stood as both a frontier and a bridge between two civilisations.
Pamban Bridge — India’s first sea bridge, inaugurated on 24 February 1914. It connects the mainland at Mandapam with Pamban Island, its central bascule span ingeniously designed to lift for passing vessels. A living monument to Edwardian engineering brilliance.
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge — A form of bascule bridge invented by the American engineer William Donald Scherzer, whose rolling mechanism allowed the bridge to pivot backward to enable maritime passage. The Pamban span remains its finest Indian exemplar.
Dhanushkodi — From Tamil Dhanushkōṭi (தனுஷ்கோடி), meaning “end of the bow”, the mythic site where Lord Rama is believed to have aimed his celestial arrow towards Lanka. Once a bustling port and railway terminus, it was obliterated by the cyclone of 1964.
Talaimannar — The port town on the Sri Lankan shore, once linked to Dhanushkodi by steamer as part of the Indo–Ceylon rail–sea route. It marked the southern gateway of the British Empire’s railway network in South Asia.
Metre Gauge (MG) — A railway track gauge of 1,000 millimetres, characteristic of the South Indian Railway network until the nationwide conversion to Broad Gauge under Project Unigauge.
Viaduct — A long bridge of multiple spans constructed to carry a railway or roadway over tidal flats, marshland, or shallow waters. The Pamban viaduct, completed in 1913, exemplifies this genre of early twentieth-century steel architecture.
Indo–Ceylon Link — The combined rail-and-steamer route that once bound India and Ceylon, enabling passengers to travel seamlessly from Madras to Colombo. It remained operational until 1984, when geopolitical tensions and the decline of the ferry service brought it to an end.
Cyclone of 1964 — The cataclysmic storm that struck Dhanushkodi on the night of 22 December 1964, submerging the railway line, pier, and passenger train No. 653 with the loss of all on board. It marked the twilight of the Indo–Ceylon connection.
Puthu Road (Rameswaram Road) — A minor yet historically significant halt between Pamban Junction and Rameswaram town. It served pilgrims and traders until it was swept away by the 1964 cyclone and later erased entirely by highway expansion.
Mukundarayar Chathiram — A traditional travellers’ rest-house near Rameswaram, named after a local benefactor. Its vicinity corresponds to the site of the vanished station of Puthu Road.
Sleeper (Railway) — A horizontal support laid transversely beneath the rails, originally of timber, later of steel or pre-stressed concrete. Sleepers maintain gauge, distribute load, and anchor the rail to the ballast. Many early South Indian lines, including the Dhanushkodi alignment, used circular steel sleepers, remnants of which still survive.
Rail (Track Rail) — The rolled steel bar forming the running surface for train wheels. Early metre-gauge lines often employed flat-bottomed rails, fastened by clips or keys to the sleepers.
Crossing Frog (or Frog Rail) — A component of a railway turnout (points) that allows wheel flanges to cross from one track to another. The term “frog” refers to the crossing point of the rails, its complex geometry critical to safe switching operations.
Fishplate — A metal joint bar used to connect the ends of two rails in alignment, bolted together to ensure continuity of track. The term derives from the old British “fish belly” shape of early connectors.
Ballast — The layer of crushed stone or gravel laid beneath sleepers to provide stability, drainage, and load distribution. Coastal lines like Pamban–Dhanushkodi often used coral or shell ballast due to local availability.
Embankment — The raised earth or masonry foundation upon which railway tracks are laid, particularly across tidal flats or low-lying terrain. The Dhanushkodi section was heavily embanked to resist storm surges.
Pier (Maritime) — A platform extending from the shore into the sea, used for berthing vessels. The Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar piers once formed the twin termini of the Indo–Ceylon ferry connection.
Riveted Girder — A structural beam composed of steel plates joined by rivets, characteristic of early 20th-century railway bridge construction, including the Pamban viaduct.
Memoria — Latin for remembrance; used here to denote the enduring presence of memory long after physical traces have vanished.
Sources & References
Primary archival and historical materials consulted in the preparation of this chronicle:
-
South Indian Railway (SIR) Annual Administration Reports, 1907–1914
-
Proceedings of the Government of Madras (Public Works Department), Railway Branch, 1908–1913
-
The Madras Presidency Gazette, various issues (1908–1914)
-
Railway Board Proceedings, Government of India, 1908 Conference Records
-
The Indian Engineering Journal, Vols. XV–XVI (1913–1914)
-
India Meteorological Department Reports on the Cyclone of December 1964
-
Survey of India Topographical Sheets, Rameswaram Division (pre-1964 editions)
-
Oral Testimonies and Field Notes, collected by the author during site visits to Pamban Island and Rameswaram (2013–2023)
All archival citations have been cross-verified where possible; remaining ambiguities reflect the fragmentary nature of the surviving record.
Copyright & Archival Notice
This article was first published in December 2015 and comprehensively updated in 2026 with newly verified archival material, cartographic evidence, and field observations concerning the lost Rameswaram–Dhanushkodi railway. All textual narratives, research notes, maps, and photographic content are the original work of the author and are fully protected under national and international copyright provisions.
Unauthorised reproduction, translation, or digital reposting — whether partial or complete — is expressly forbidden without prior written permission. Excerpts used for scholarly or non-commercial reference must include clear attribution to the author and cite the original date of publication.
All photographs, on-site documentation, and reconstructions are © Dhinakar Rajaram, 2015–2026. All rights reserved.
This updated edition also records the final disappearance of Puthu Road’s remnants after 2023, marking the transformation of the once-historic alignment into modern highway. The essay thus endures as both an archival record and an elegy to a vanished railway civilisation.
© Dhinakar Rajaram | Rameswaram Railway Chronicles | Updated 2026
#IndianRailways #MetreGauge #LostStations #BoatMail #RailwayHistory #MaritimeHeritage
#Rameswaram #Pamban #Dhanushkodi #PalkStrait #TamilNadu #SriLanka
#ColonialHistory #JamesRennell #BritishIndia #IndoCeylonLink #ForgottenHistory
#TravelBlog #HiddenHistory #LostPlaces #Cyclone1964 #SouthIndia
