The Railway line from Colombo to the Hill Country

The first railway line of the Sri Lankan Railway Network is the Colombo-Kandy line, built by the British in the mid 19th century.

The Original objective of constructing the railway line from Colombo to Badulla was to provide transportation to European planters to transport their crops, coffee and tea, from the hill country to Colombo easily & with less expense.

Construction work on the first railway line in Ceylon was begun in 1858 from Colombo. It is said in historical records that the then Governor, Sir Henry Ward had cut the first sod to initiate construction work on the Ceylon first railway line, with the attendance of many distinguished British and Local Citizens. Governor Sir Henry ward was the chief guest on the occasion.
As the first phase, the railway track was laid up to Ambepussa . It was reported that the first train made its initial journey from Weyangoda to Ambepussa on the 27th of December 1864. But this journey was only for observation of the newly built railway line. Later, its First official journey for the public commenced on the 02nd of October 1865.

In 1865 the British began the 2nd stage of main line railway construction from Ambepussa to Kandy and reached Kandy in July 1867. Within 9 years, confronted with many environmental obstacles and difficulties, the colonial government constructed the main railway line up to Kandy successfully. From 1867, within 66 years they laid the entire track of railway line to Badulla. Later, An extension line beyond Kandy, the Kandy-Mathale line was built. Unlike today, at the time of construction, this line from Colombo to Badulla was considered one of the engineering marvels of the colonial period. In all aspects, laying this line in the mountainous interior through harsh and cold weather took amazing human effort.

The Colombo - Badulla railway track is approximately 300km or 180 miles in length. British engineers completed the main railway from Colombo to Badulla within 66 years, & it is ranked among one of the great railway lines in the world.

Perhaps the most wonderful feature of this railway track is the train, “Udarata Menike” which begins its journey at an elevation of 14 feet from sea level, in Colombo and runs up to Pattipola in the Nuwara Eliya District, which is 6224 feet above sea level. The Entire track winds through 44 tunnels and stops at about 80 stations. The journey from Colombo to Badulla by train takes approximately 9 hours.

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