• By: japaneseFlower     Date: 17-03-09
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Too bad there's so much fighting going on in Sri Lanka! Beautiful place.
 

• By: sxx     Date: 12-02-09
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The Pamban Bridge on the Palk Strait connects Rameswaram to mainland India. It refers to both the road bridge and the cantilever railway bridge, though primarily it means the latter. It is the longest sea bridge in India at a length of about 2.3 km. From the elevated two-lane road bridge, adjoining islands and the parallel rail bridge below can be viewed. The railway bridge is 6,776 ft (2,065 m) and was opened for traffic in 1914. The railroad bridge is a still-functioning double-leaf bascule bridge section that can be raised to let ships pass under the bridge. The railway bridge historically carried meter-gauge trains on it, but Indian Railways upgraded the bridge to carry broad-gauge trains in a project that finished Aug. 12, 2007. Until recently, the two leaves of the bridge were opened manually using levers by workers. About 10 ships — cargo carriers, coast guard ships, fishing vessels and oil tankers — pass through the bridge every month. According to Dr Narayanan, the bridge is located at the "world's second highly corrosive environment", next to Miami, US, making the construction a challenging job. The location is also a cyclone-prone high wind velocity zone.