Are there any rail connections to Sri Lanka from India?
[2/99] There was a rail link to Sri Lanka from India until 1964, with services from Madras to Colombo (the Indo-Ceylon Express). From Madras Egmore passengers took the Rameshwaram Exp. (then known as the “Boat Mail”). The MG track went through Pamban and reached a pier at Dhanushkodi, the southern tip of the island of Rameshwaram and about 27km from the town of Rameshwaram. (The town of Rameshwaram itself was in those days connected by an extension from Dhanushkodi.) Passengers then used a ferry service to cross the 20km (13km?) of open sea at Adam’s Bridge (a series of coral reefs), and then boarded the connecting train at Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The ferry steamer was run by SR (earlier by SIR). In 1964, a fierce cyclone destroyed much of the track and the pier (and much of the town) at Dhanushkodi. This was never repaired, and today the tracks on the Indian side go directly to Rameshwaram and then stop about 4km before the tip of Rameshwaram island. Traces of the old line still rem
