UPR or Uda Pussellawa Railways is the narrow gauge mountain railway that ran from Nanu Oya to Ragala via Nuwara Eliya. The sixth highest altitude railway station of the world is located on this line in Kandapola.

UPR was the world’s most beautiful and highest narrow-gauge railway line. It opened in 1904 and provided freight and passenger transportation until August 1948.

In a bid to attract more tourists to the destinations in the central region including Nuwara Eliya, the old railway track will be reconstructed from Nanu Oya to Uda Pussellawa via Nuwara Eliya to operate an electric train, disclosed Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister in April 2023.

He said this railway line which is 31 km in length is to be reconstructed under Build Operate and Transfer model.

In 1895 the British governor Sir West Ridgeway was determined to build this mountain railway which was considered to be one of the toughest in the world due to the geography and toughness of the route. Its construction started in November 1900 and completed within just 3 years and seven months in order to provide transportation for tea and access to mountain resort towns.

The route of the old line built for steam locomotives from Nanu Oya to Ragala still exists.

We should expect the new electric train service could be completed within a much shorter time.

The Nuwara Eliya narrow gauge line would have been one of the best modes for the tourism development in the country.

The story of the Uda Pussellawa Railways

The distance from Nuwara Eliya to Nanu Oya from road is approximately 6.4 km (4.0 miles) and colonial planters in Nuwara Eliya faced many difficulties when transporting goods from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya. They asked for a railway track from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya from the British governor Sir West Ridgeway, who was on a trip to Nuwara Eliya on 25 April 1895. Considering their appeal initial work on the track was commenced in November 1900. This railway track was to be one of the toughest in the world due to the geography and toughness of the route. The first stage up to Nuwara Eliya was completed and opened on 14 December 1903 by Sir Henry Blake, Nuwara Eliya to Kandapola on 21 December 1903 and the final stage from Kandapola to Ragala was completed in 1 July 1904.

Beautiful Uda Pussellawa Railways was completed in 3 years and seven months.

The line was constructed in 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge. The track distance from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya is 6.45 miles and altitude difference is 1,000 ft. The mean line gradient in the climb is 1 : 23. The climb from Brookside to Kandapola was even more difficult at 1 : 16. This is almost 3 times steeper than the Kadugannawa Pass at 1 : 44 on the main line. Also, there were bends with the radius of 80 ft.

At this limit, the average speed of the train was 5.6 to 6.25 miles per hour. The train was stopped at some places without being able to go up as heavy steam demand caused low pressure. This train journey must have been a very beautiful experience, as the passengers could fully enjoy the magnificent scenery that was slowly passing by them.

By 1920, Sri Lanka’s railways had made great progress, running nearly 400 trains a day. During this period, 16 trains were running on the Uda Pusellawa route as 11 mixed trains and 5 goods trains per day. Uda Pussellawa railway service was now in such advanced condition that in addition to freight train carriages and passenger train carriages, even a special luxury carriage for the Governor was used in this Uda Pussellawa railway service.

In the year 1927, Ceylon Government Railways has completed paving 951 miles of railway lines. According to the book ‘Railway as factor in Socio-Economic Changes in Ceylon’, the most important part of income generated by the railway was 28.8% of total GDP of the country in the golden year of 1927.

Due to the second world war there was less priority given for the railway developments of Ceylon. Door-to-Door transportation could not be performed by railway transportation as provided by road transportation modes. Introduction of ‘Motor Omnibus’ to Nuwara Eliya by the Upland bus company made more negative impact to the railway in passenger transportation.

In 1942, the first stage from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya was removed, and later in 1948 the remaining part up to Ragala was removed. On 2 August 1948 all services were withdrawn and the line was completely removed.

Although the railway line was removed, the former railway station buildings were not removed and parcel transfer services were conducted from these stations for many years following the closure. Some ruins of these stations, bridges, sign boards and culverts can be seen even today. Some of the remaining buildings are still being used as various government facilities.

The timeline of Uda Pussellawa Railway (UPR)

• 1898 – Initial discussions of Kelany Valley (KV) & UPR narrow gauge lines
• 1900 – Construction of UPR line commenced
• 1903 – Opening of UPR line to Nuwara Eliya
• 1904 – Extention of UPR line to Ragala
• 1948 – UPR line was abandoned

Uda Pussellawa route

There were 11 stations from Nanu Oya to Ragala, the station short code and distance from Nanu Oya in miles are given within brackets.

Kandapola railway station, which is 6316 feet (1,925 m) above sea level, was the sixth highest altitude railway station of the world.

Steam engines used on UPR

Ceylon Government Railways (CGR) had started this project after arranging the procurement of four engines prepared by Sharp, Stewart & Co in Britain and they named the engine model as UPR Class L1 of type 0-4-2T with a speed of 12 miles per hour. The first steam engine from Sharp, Stewart & Co was imported for the Uda Pusellawa route in 1902.

Beyer-Peacock & Co. Ltd of Manchester supplied the narrow gauge Beyer-Garratt patent articulated class H1 locomotive plated CGR 293 to CGR for the UPR line in 1931. It was of type 2-4-0+0-4-2 or double porter wheel arrangement which is effectively two 2-4-0 locomotives operating back to back, with the boiler and cab suspended between the two power units. The boiler of the Beyer-Garratt gave a maximum of power for a minimum weight. It had 4 cylinders and was more powerful than other conventional steam engines, weighed 39 tons total, capable of negotiating sharp curves of radius 70 ft on the UPR steep gradient. This locomotive was passionately called “Baby Garratt” and used for working passenger and freight services in Uda Pussallawa railways.

Ref: Ceylon Guide, Beyer-Garratt Patent Articulated Locomotives