My experience with the Ella Odyssey train

Hello, as I indicated earlier, on January 19th, we traveled to Ella and made a full-cabin reservation on the Ella Odyssey Train. Reserving a seat on that train is a difficult task. It needs to be reserved a month in advance. In any case, my brother completed that difficult task with the assistance of a friend. Although we frequently travel by car and rent vehicles, this is the first time we have taken a journey of this nature by rail.

The Ella Odyssey is a special railway that travels from Colombo to Badulla through Kandy, Nanu Oya, and Ella. The train is headed for Badulla. This train made beautiful and interesting photo stops between Kandy and Badulla. We had lovely and happy memories of traveling on the Ella Odyssey train through many tunnels, lush green tea plantations, and waterfalls. As we all occupied the same compartment, we had the time by singing, clapping, and playing drums.

We had a good time laughing as the train stopped at the viewpoints such as Horsetail Falls, Sri Pada (Adam's Peak), St. Clair Falls, Elgin Falls, peak level, No. 18 tunnels, Kithal Ella Waterfall, and Nine Arches Bridge. The train stopped at Nine Arches Bridge for around 10 minutes, and at other locations for about 4, or 5 minutes. The tourists benefit the most from viewing and taking pictures close to this significant location.

Along with such locations, Pattipola Railway Station, Sri Lanka's tallest railway station, is also visible. This station, which is 6225 feet above sea level, is popular with both local and foreign tourists. The tunnel at the Pattipola railway station is the third-longest and tallest tunnel in the country, measuring 321.95 meters in length. Additionally, this train stopped at the Great Western, the most beautiful railroad station in the country.

^{The tallest Railway Station of Sri Lanka}

^{The most beautiful Railway Station of Sri Lanka}

In my memory, we traveled from Gampaha to Demodara through roughly 35 tunnels. The Poolbank tunnel between Hatton and Kotagala is the longest tunnel in Sri Lanka that we could pass. As we got closer to Hatten station, the officer said, "You can see Sri Pada Mountain from your right-hand side. You'll need to pay attention as we stop for a moment. Yes, we had a great view of Sri Pada Mountain.

The train had all the facilities we needed, including a table for our meals and drinks, a place to keep our drinks, toilets, a Garbage tank, and comfortable seats.

The last and most important place of the journey was the Nine Arches Bridge which was 300 feet in length, 25 feet in width, and 80 – 100 feet in height. At this location, we were able to drop by and take pictures as we wanted. There, the train stopped for roughly ten minutes. The "Bridge in the Sky" is another name for this Nine Arches Bridge.

^{World famous Nine Arches Bridge}

After watching the beauty of Nine Arches Bridge, we get down from the Demodars station which is our destination for the railway journey. I believe that taking a train with a huge group of people of your own is the ideal way to experience this type of train adventure instead of traveling by bus. That was the story of our train adventure. In my upcoming blog, I'll explain what happens after being dropped off at Demodara Station.

Thank you for reading.