| Year and Month | 05th February 2017 |
| Number of Days | One day |
| Crew | Two-Myself and Chamara |
| Accommodation | Not applicable |
| Transport | Three wheel and walking along the rail track |
| Activities | Rail hike, Visiting wild elephants and photography |
| Weather | Excellent |
| Route | Gal Oya junction (ගල් ඔය හන්දිය)->Agbo Pura (අග්බෝපුර) railway station |
| Tips, Notes and Special remark |
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| Author | Niroshan |
| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
If someone asks about the longest distance between two railway stations of Sri Lanka, do you know the answer? The longest distance between two railway stations is 25.3km from Gal Oya junction railway station to Agbo Pura railway station. Galoya junction station is the place where Batticalo and Trincomale railway line get separated. There was a railway station at Aluth Wewa (in between these two) and it was closed 30 years ago.
Special feature is this part of Trinco line is margined with Kaudulla NP (12km from Gal Oya junction) and Somawathiya NP (10km from Gal Oya junction). There is a high possibility of visiting wild Elephants and other wild animals in this rail walk. Therefore the speed limit is about 20kmph in most places.
It was continuation (2nd part) of rail walk in dry zone. Chamara has visited Polonnaruwa for Omanugala visiting in previous day and we have reached Minneriya early morning. Following breakfast we inquired about the bus to reach Gal Oya junction but it is scheduled at 8.30am. Then we hired a threewheel and came to Gal Oya junction station.
Weather was prefect and we started the rail walk to reach Agbo Pura railway junction. As usual we snapped rail way line with different angles, bridges and tried to capture some wild animals while they were crossing the railway line. Like previous sections of rail walk in dry zone this part also have less human activities. Main reason is due to national parks. According to history there was a station at Aluth Oya but closed 30years ago. We could notice the old entrance to Kaudulla National park as well. We have crossed Yodha Ela twice. One important thing is a slow train has stopped when we were capturing it at railway line. The driver and the guard blamed us for walking on railway line while train is coming. At one place railway line get closer to the A6 road and then deviates.
Agbo Pura town and station are situated close each other. We started the journey around 8am and spent 6 hours and 30minutes for this rail walk.
Enjoy the photographs of the journey:
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Gal Oya junction railway station |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Tree coverage on either side of the railway line |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Old pump house |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Companion of the journey |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Passing first Iron Bridge |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Old is good |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Railway line over the bridge |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  They have made the bridge. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Rail way line goes with greenish background |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Trincomale-Colombo train is passing us. This will join with the crowd from Batticalo. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  There is a foot pathway parallel to the railway line |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Old elephant dung |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Railway line goes through Kaudulla NP. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Mountains at Minneriya area are seen far behind |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Foot pathway goes along with the railway line. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  When we get exhausted by walking on the railway line we moved to foot pathway. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Simply made seat for railway workers |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  There were few water streams flowing. But not suitable for drinking. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Getting the bend. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Usually it is a straight line with less bends. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Railway worker’s den was found at one side. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Ayyiyanayaka Dewalaya is situated infront of worker’s den |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Most of the time you can see one or two kilometers beyond. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Weather was perfect. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  This might be another reason to have a foot pathway on side of the railway line. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Walking was easy with old fashioned wooden slippers. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  They have planned to fix new concrete slippers. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Another bend at railway line. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  It was bit hard to walk with concrete slippers. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  It was bit hard to walk with concrete slippers. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Crossing the railway line. Photo credit goes to Chamara. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Various railway sign boards were seen. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Bridge over “Yodha Ela” -යෝධ ඇල |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  “Yodha Ela”- යෝධ ඇල |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  The bridge over “Yodha Ela”-යෝධ ඇල |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  The bridge over “Yodha Ela”-යෝධ ඇල |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Close up view of the bridge |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Bridge with the railway line |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  The bridge over “Yodha Ela” (යෝධ ඇල) |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Where Aluth Oya (අලුත් ඔය) railway station was situated 30 years ago. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Upside down board at old entrance of Kaudulla NP. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Foot pathway to enter Kaudulla NP. This was old entrance into Kaudulla NP. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Foot pathway to enter Kaudulla NP. This was old entrance into Kaudulla NP. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Railway line after passing Aluth Oya. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  After passing Aluth oya there were less forest coverage. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Grassy land extending to the forest. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Journey was bit hard with afternoon heat |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Train from Colombo is coming. Actually this train starts from Galoya junction and get passengers from there. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Train from Colombo is coming. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Train from Colombo is passing…. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Train from Colombo is passing…. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  The bridge and railway crossing. Again we came across Yodha Ela here. This might be the margin of Kaudulla and Somawathiya NP. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  This bridge is old more than 150 years. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Railway crossing |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Simply wow. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Third train we met for the day. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  She travels from Trincomale to Gal Oya junction to join with the slow train from Batticalo to reach Maho. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  We had nice memories with this train. She stopped for us for a while. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  She is passing. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  She is passing. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Rail line passes Somawathiya forest reserve. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Elephant encounter at Somawathi forest reserve, closer to railway line. Photo credit goes to Chamara. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Another place we had a rest- Railway worker’s house. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  One of few instances of human habitat closer to railway line. After this area railway line go closer to the main road (Colombo-Trincomale road). |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Commonly found friend at railway line: star turtle |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Small bump and getting down |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Symmetrically staying…. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  It is closer to main road |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Last and fourth train we met for the day. This is an oil train goes to Trinco. Main road is situated on left hand side. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Abounded house closer to railway line. Nice place for a rest. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Back to wild. Again rail way line diverts s from the main road into the forest. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  We met a group here |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Another star turtle |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Reaching the destination: Agbopura |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  At Agbopura railway station. |
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Agbo-Pura railway station. |
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  Work out of the day: 25.3km between Gal Oya junction and Agbopura railway stations. |
Thank you