Design of Gabion Reinforced Railway Embankment Connecting Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal

The southeastern tip of Pamban Island, Dhanushkodi, is one of the unique attractions of Rameswaram. It is located around 20 km away from Rameswaram. The town of Dhanushkodi is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other side. The railway line from Pamban Station to Dhanushkodi was destroyed in the 1964 cyclone, so by then, the rail transportation facility for Dhanushkodi was stopped. A new railway line and an embankment between Rameswaram to Dhanushkodi are proposed to increase better connectivity. The proposed railway line is highly environmentally sensitive to ocean waves and the geotechnical properties of soil. The conventional earthen embankment is not a viable solution due to the non-availability of usable soil nearby. At the same time, an elevated railway corridor is quite expensive. Considering the extreme waves, soil characteristics, and usable landmass, a Gabion reinforced railway embankment is proposed for a height of +8.5 m from Cart datum. This embankment is exposed to both the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal region. Gabion reinforced embankments are designed to encounter the extreme wave forces on both facings as well such structures require minimal foundation width for feasible construction. Gabion reinforced embankments are economical, good in wave energy dissipation, quicker construction. Gabions with facia tails are designed for extreme wave forces, and the geotechnical stability of the same is also checked numerically. The combined hydrodynamic forces and monolithic stability of the structure are satisfactory.