The recently released trailer of the much-awaited Telugu action-fantasy film, Mirai: Super Yodha, features some thrilling scenes shot at the locale of Sri Lanka’s Nine Arch Bridge and its surrounding area.

However, I came across this piece of information much later.

But what I did know was that the Nine Arch Bridge of Sri Lanka is considered one of the most scenic railway bridges in the world, an instagrammer’s delight.

Actually a viaduct, built more than a century back, it is considered an engineering marvel and even the shortest list of must-see places in Sri Lanka has never failed to mention it.

Although the destination was outside our itinerary drawn up by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau as part of their ‘Sri Lanka, A Story for Every Season’ campaign, we decided to squeeze in a few extra hours to see this phenomenal bridge as we were staying in the quaint town of Haputale.

Perched at nearly 4,695 feet, Haputale is a convenient base to explore the Sri Lankan highlands known for their cloud forests and tea gardens. It’s over an hour’s journey by road from Ella, from where one can easily visit the Nine Arch Bridge.

The bridge, which connects two hills across a stream bed, lies between Ella and Demodara railway stations on the scenic Colombo-Badulla route through which the Calypso Train passes by.

No prior information about this popular attraction had prepared us for the spectacle that we saw below the viewing deck. Pulled by a diesel locomotive, the train hugged the track like a giant caterpillar and stopped right on the bridge which rose a magnificent 80 feet above the forested slopes and tea gardens while verdant rock walls surrounded it.

Scores of tourists were already milling along the single track, the parapet, and the surrounding slopes.

Apart from closed carriages, there was an open wagon on which enthusiastic passengers were singing, playing the guitar or dancing to myriad tunes; hence the name Calypso Train, we were told.

After a stop of about 10 minutes, the train let out a piercing hoot—the passengers rushed back to their carriages and chugged on its way, disappearing among the folds of the foliage covered hillside.

We decided to walk up to the bridge to catch the next train passing by.

There are several routes to reach the Nine Arch Bridge, and some tourists even walk down the railway track from Ella station.

We had taken a potholed trail that took off from the car park area at one end of Ella town, wound its way past the viewing deck, and ended at the top of a flight of rough steps leading to the railway track on the lower ledge.

One has to be careful while walking along the tracks as the distant horn of the train is the only warning you will get about its approach.

Several viewing decks and cafes crowd the shoulder of a hill on the near side of the bridge and we could see a tunnel at the other end of the 300 feet long flat masonry structure.

Completed in 1919, two years since the commencement of work, the bridge has remained an engineering marvel, details (including drawings) of which can be found in a 1922 report (published in the ‘Transactions of the Engineering Association of Ceylon’ in the same year) presented by Harold Cuthbert Marwood, executive engineer, Railway Construction Department, Ceylon Government Railway, who had designed the bridge.

One may recall the viaduct was built at a time when the First World War was raging in Europe.

We descended to a lower slope to have a clear view of the nine spans and semi-circular arches constructed to overcome the challenging nine-degree curve of the viaduct bridge, lovingly called the ‘bridge in the sky’.

Much to our delight, another train came trundling by, and took a break on the bridge, providing us with more photo opportunities.

Now that we had seen the iconic structure and trains passing over it, we yearned for a view of the bridge from the inside of a railway compartment.

We drove up to Ella Railway Station which still retains much of its old world charm; we were issued the old-style cardboard tickets for our journey to the next station, Demodara.

As we waited at the station, we saw the blue coloured Ella Odyssey train, a luxury train which runs on select days of the week between Colombo and Badulla via Kandy, passing by.

Do remember, not all trains stop on the Nine Arch Bridge, neither did ours.

Although it was fun, being waved at by the people gathered by the bridge and waving back to them, the view is best enjoyed from the ground, is what I realised as the train went across it.

Thankfully, I had managed to grab a seat by the window and watched the tea gardens and wilderness flit by; an occasional homestead, a hilly spring gushing through the greens, the train curving along its tracks, added to the tapestry that unfolded outside my window.

As the train grounded to a halt at Demodara, we quickly disembarked and ran to a viewing platform just behind the railway station to watch our train take the famous loop on its onward journey and enter the tunnel almost below our feet.

Fact File

Ella, the backpackers’ town, is the best place to stay if you are keen to photograph the Nine Arch Bridge early in the morning or during sunset.

Although the bridge can be visited throughout the day, it gets fairly crowded with people in the afternoon.

You may either walk or take a tuktuk to reach the vicinity of the bridge; however, do settle on the route and the price before travelling.

While the hill slopes are ideal for photographing the expanse of the bridge and the arches, be careful of the terrain, as it can be slippery, especially during or after the rains.

Also, be wary of attack by swarms of wild bees which live in the surrounding forests. 

We saw many people engaging in drone photography near the bridge but it is always best to check with railway officials in advance.

(Photos by author and Unsplash)