While you might moan about your morning commute, nothing will compare to the train journey you'd need to take to cross Pamban Bridge.
Opened all the way back in 1914, the railway route was India's first sea bridge, connecting Rameswaram – a town on Pamban Island in the southeast Indian state of Tamil Nadu – to the Indian mainland.
Despite measuring 1.3 miles in length and sitting 12.5 meters above sea level, it only took 600 workers took just two years to construct.
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Built into the seabed of the Indian Ocean, the bridge is supported by nearly 145 concrete piers with a middle section that opens up to let other sea vessels through.
Pamban Bridge was the only surface transportation link between Pamban Island and the mainland until 1988, when a parallel road bridge was built.
Indian Railways is now set to open a new Pamban railway bridge later this year, which will run alongside the old one and features the country's first vertical sea lift bridge over the sea.
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But while the original fixture remains an engineering marvel to this day, it has experienced its fair share of issues over the years, not least because it's located in the world's second most corrosive environment after Florida.
According to YouTube channel Be Amazed, 27 severely corroded girders were discovered along its tracks in 2016, many of which could've given way at any minute.
Because of the sea's unpredictably high winds and wild waves, the trains on this track are only permitted to travel at a top speed of 27 miles per hour.
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In 2018, further damage on the bridge was identified, with officials suspending transportation for three months while it was restored.
The bridge's history took a deadly turn in 1964 when the devastating Rameswaram cyclone hit the country.
Widely regarded to be one of the most powerful storms to ever strike India on record, the cyclone generated huge tidal waves that sent a passenger train on the Pamban Bridge off the tracks, killing everyone on board.
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Initial reports suggested that 115 people died in the incident due to the number of tickets issued, but it was believed the figure was actually closer to around 200 as more passengers without tickets were said to have travelled that evening.
Though the reconstruction of the bridge was deemed a priority and completed in 45 days, the impact of so many losing their lives in the storm is still felt to this day.
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Topics: World News
Daisy Phillipson