The window each train passes the Nine Arches Bridge, worked out from the published departures either side — plus Ella's own timetable, in English for the first time.
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Everyone in Ella asks the same thing: what time does the train cross the Nine Arches Bridge? Nobody publishes an answer, because a timetable gives departure times at stations and the bridge is not a station — it sits on the line between Ella and Demodara. So this page gives the window instead. The train leaves one of those two stations, passes the bridge somewhere in between, and leaves the other. Be standing there by the start of the window.
The line runs from Ella to Demodara past Nine Arches Bridge, and the timetable gives the departure time at each of those two stations — never a time at the viewpoint itself. So a train passes somewhere between the two, and that window is what you see below. The time to be standing there is the start of it.
The viaduct sits on the line between Ella and Demodara stations. Neither the Sinhala nor the Tamil edition of the timetable mentions the bridge at all — the windows below are worked out from the departure times at the two stations either side of it.
Not every train runs every day, so the answer changes with the weekday.
Saturday, 8 August 2026
Passes between 09:37 and 09:52
NextTrain 1016 toward Nanu Oya · a 15-minute window
leaves Demodara at 09:37 · leaves Ella at 09:52
Be there by 09:37 · Leave town by 09:02 — about a 35-minute walk
Passes between 11:27 and 11:41
Train 1005 toward Badulla · a 14-minute window
leaves Ella at 11:27 · leaves Demodara at 11:41
Be there by 11:27 · Leave town by 10:52 — about a 35-minute walk
Passes between 15:37 and 15:52
Train 1006 toward Nanu Oya · a 15-minute window
leaves Demodara at 15:37 · leaves Ella at 15:52
Be there by 15:37 · Leave town by 15:02 — about a 35-minute walk
Passes between 16:57 and 17:11
Train 1015 toward Badulla · a 14-minute window
leaves Ella at 16:57 · leaves Demodara at 17:11
Be there by 16:57 · Leave town by 16:22 — about a 35-minute walk
Walking time: about 30–40 minutes downhill from town (Visit Ella) — an approximate local walking time, not an official one. 35 minutes is the middle of it, and the way back up takes longer.
Every service that calls at Ella, both directions, with the days it runs. These are the published departure times at the station itself.
| Departs | Train | Toward | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:27 | 1005 | Badulla | DailyRuns today |
| 15:21 | 1043 — Ella Odyssey | Badulla | Wednesday onlyNot today |
| 16:57 | 1015 | Badulla | Every day except WednesdayRuns today |
| Departs | Train | Toward | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:43 | 1044 — Ella Odyssey | Nanu Oya | Wednesday onlyNot today |
| 09:52 | 1016 | Nanu Oya | Every day except WednesdayRuns today |
| 15:52 | 1006 | Nanu Oya | DailyRuns today |
Published departure times along the Nanu Oya – Badulla line, in travel order. Useful for a journey that starts or ends somewhere other than here.
| Station | 1005 | 1043 — Ella Odyssey | 1015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nanu Oya | 09:00 | 13:00 | 14:30 |
| Ambewela | 09:30 | 13:32 | 15:00 |
| Pattipola | 09:38 | 13:42 | 15:08 |
| Ohiya | 09:53 | 13:56 | 15:23 |
| Idalgashinna | 10:12 | 14:14 | 15:42 |
| Haputale | 10:28 | 14:29 | 15:58 |
| Diyatalawa | 10:40 | 14:40 |
The hill line reopened under a special-train notice after a cyclone closure; the repaired washout was at mile 134 chain 78, on the Ambewela–Nanu Oya section far to the west of Ella. All six trains below are listed as special trains rather than booked timetable services.
This timetable comes from a special-train notice effective from 20 June 2026. The notice sets no end date and names no review date, so it stands until the operator replaces it — which it may do without warning. Confirm at the station before you travel.
The official document is published in Sinhala and Tamil only. The English on this page is our own rendering of it, transcribed cell by cell — the linked documents are the authority, and we would rather you checked us than trusted us.
Source: Sri Lanka Railways special train notice (Sinhala and Tamil editions), checked 7 August 2026 (today).
All six trains carry first class (air-conditioned) and second class reserved seating. Seats can be reserved on Sri Lanka Railways' own booking site or at any station with reservation facilities. The notice also says that passengers holding reserved tickets showing Ambewela as the origin or destination may start from, or finish at, Nanu Oya.
Sri Lanka Railways seat reservation
The notice prints no fares, so this page quotes none. Ask at the station or the official booking site.
What these times are, and what they are not
These are published departure times, not live running. Trains on this line run late, and the windows on this page are a plan rather than a promise.
The source publishes no arrival times at all — every value on the document, including the one at the end of the line, sits under a column headed “departure time”. So this page only ever states when a train leaves a station.
Nobody publishes the minute a train reaches the viewpoint, so this page does not state one. It passes somewhere inside the window, and it may be at the near end of it.
| 16:10 |
| Bandarawela | 10:56 | 14:55 | 16:26 |
| Ella | 11:27 | 15:21 | 16:57 |
| Demodara | 11:41 | 15:39 | 17:11 |
| Badulla | 12:16 | 16:12 | 17:46 |
| Station | 1044 — Ella Odyssey | 1016 | 1006 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badulla | 07:45 | 09:00 | 15:00 |
| Demodara | 08:19 | 09:37 | 15:37 |
| Ella | 08:43 | 09:52 | 15:52 |
| Bandarawela | 09:11 | 10:23 | 16:23 |
| Diyatalawa | 09:27 | 10:37 | 16:37 |
| Haputale | 09:39 | 10:49 | 16:49 |
| Idalgashinna | 10:15 | 11:05 | 17:05 |
| Ohiya | 10:33 |
| 17:24 |
| Pattipola | 10:47 | 11:39 | 17:39 |
| Ambewela | 11:00 | 11:47 | 17:47 |
| Nanu Oya | 11:29 | 12:16 | 18:06 |