As you would already know, train journeys in Sri Lanka are unimaginable.This engineering marvel is built at 3100m above sea level adds more value to those train rides. Built entirely out of brick, rock and cement; without a single piece of steel; the bridge has stood solid from 1921.
Which is almost 100 years!!
Lack of steel due the World War 1 was the main reason for it to be built without steal.
This amazing bridge spans 90 meters with a height of 24 meters and it is more picturesque due to its location (amidst the tea plantations in the middle of a thick jungle).
Access to the place is not too hard. There are two options (I took the first one):
1. You can walk along the rail tracks from Ella towards Demodara.
2. You can take the road from Ella Town and get tot he bridge ( You will be passing the path the Mini Adams Peak and the hotel 98 Acres)
If you take a tuk from the Ella town it would only cost you around 200 rupees ($1.5). This is in 2018 so prices may rise a bit if you are reading on a later date.
Best times to go is when a train is passing. You can check the train schedule in the link given below (look for trains either leaving Ella towards Demodara or the other way around).
https://eservices.railway.gov.lk/schedule/searchTrain.action?lang=en
Hidden Story about the origin of the Bridge
The construction of this bridge was given to a person call P.K. Appuhami living in Kappatipola in Melimada.
According to one of his grand sons now living in this house, P.K. Appuhami was born in 1870 and has been popular drummer and a devil dancer. One day he has lost a drumming competition to another drummer during a thovil ceremony and has returned home in the traditional devil costume.
At that time the railway was being constructed and and the Britisher who saw him in the costume got frightened seeing him near Ohiya Railway Station. But later a relationship was built up between them and Appuhami has helped the construction of the railway by supplying labor to the Britisher.
When the construction reached gap between two hills the British engineers got worried due to a quagmire at the bottom of this gap. Securely anchoring the columns of a bridge to the ground was issue. Appuhami by this time has secured the trust of the engineers by then and requested to hand over the construction of this massive bridge to him. After rejecting the first time, they finally agreed to hand over this mammoth task to Appuhami.
He has started work around 1913 and got his men to topple large rocks to this gap until they filled up the bottom and then he has built the brick columns on this rock bed. He has completed the work within about an year and the cost of construction was so low, that the Britishers were unsure of the structural integrity of the bridge.
Appuhami assured that he will lie down under the bridge on the first train voyage across this and he is said to kept to the promise when the railway line was first commissioned.
Based on forklore in the area it is said that the English offered the balance payment and he carried four cart full of siver coins from Colombo and that he provided meals for the Parabedda and Puranwela villagers for 2 days and also gave them one silver coin each.
(This story was published on a Sri Lankan Newspaper - Maubima)
IF you are interested on knowing how to get to Ella from Kandy or Colombo, please read my previous blog:
http://chamalthecamel.blogspot.com/2017/12/ella-to-kandy-worlds-most-beautiful.html
