Demodara Loop
Demodara Loop
Demodara Loop
Demodara Loop
Demodara Loop
Demodara Loop
Demodara Loop

Demodara Loop

Demodara loop, the spiral railway is recognised as one of the most fascinating civil engineering marvels in Sri Lanka. Just 10-15 min drive from Ella or you can go on a rail walk to Demodara, and on your way you will pass the famous Nine Arch Bridge too.

  • Engineering Marvels Sightseeing
    Railway Track
  • Best Time All Day
    When Train Passing
  • Total Time 10 min drive/
    Rail Walk from Ella
  • Our Rating Must Visit
    5/5
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Demodara Loop - Engineering marvels

Popularly known as ‘Demodara loop’, the spiral railway is recognised as one of the most fascinating colonial railway civil engineering marvels in Sri Lanka.

Lots of people miss this as they have to go to Demodara to see the loop(10 min drive from Ella). There is a reason why it is awarded 'Certificate of Excellence' in TripAdvisor. We highly recommend, on your way to Nine Arch Bridge, pay a visit to Demodara too (a rail walk).

Or

If you planning to take your train back to Colombo from Ella, grab it from Demodara instead. So you can witness the Demodara loop, which was one of the challenges the engineers had to overcome when the building the railway track. And surely they have done it nicely!

Story

The need for its construction was to transport the production in tea estates in the Uva region down to Colombo.

A broad gauge line was being constructed and the engineers and surveyors found that elevation of hills apart at Demodara was too much for the track to negotiate from one side to another. With maximum inclination allowed in the CGR (Ceylon Government Railway as the department was known) being one foot per 44 feet (1/44) an innovative track design had to be devised.

According to folklore, when the engineers were wondering how they could proceed beyond Demodara, a farmer had suggested to them to build the track similar to the way his turban had been tied.

This suggestion had got them thinking and of course, whether they actually followed his advice is not known. However, they cracked open the problem and the final design enabled them to take the track to a higher elevation as required for it to reach the height to the point where it could ascend to the central hills keeping to the specified gradient.

The Demodara Loop is where the track passes under itself, going around the loop and emerges from the no 42 tunnel. The Loop is 441 feet long. The station is situated exactly over the tunnel. Also that’s the centre of the crossing point of the loop. This type of loop is known as the ’spiral loop’ or ’circular loop’. It is also known as ‘Demodara looping the loop’. It is considered the only loop in the world with a railway station situated exactly over a tunnel at spiral loop.

Among the better known loops are the Septemvri-Dobrinishte two tunnel loop in Bulgaria and the one tunnel Tehachapi Loop in California.

We definitely recommend this as a must do in Ella. Don’t miss it!

Go on a Rail Walk

Start from Ella train station and go towards Demodara, and on your way you will pass the famous Nine Arch Bridge too. Once you reached to Demodara station you can see the loop. And check the train times to get a view of train passing the loop.

Local Taxi/Tuk Tuk

It will only take 10 - 15 from Ella to Demodara train station. There is a shorter way via Gotuwala which tuk tuk driver are aware of.