The lost glory of the KV railway Line – By Sukumar Shan
Source : Ceylon — Sri Lanka / Then & Now! facebook
The European planters in the Kelani Valley and Sabaragamuwa have been agitating for a railway line since the successful completion of the railway to Kandy, in 1867. This resulted in building the KV Line, at first from Colombo to Yatiyantota via Avissawella during 1900-1902. Avissawella is only 37 metres above sea level, but one gets a sense of being deep in Sri Lanka’s hill country. Its station is the terminus for the KV Line, although the train used to run to Opanayaka via Ratnapura, the city of gems. Now, we have to travel there by road.
Avissavella is also an important town in the KV Line and an important junction station for the railway where the line from Colombo branched off to Yatiyantota and Opanayaka, which was extended up to Ratnapura, completed in 1912, and eventually extended to Opanayaka in 1919.
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The KV Line is Sri Lanka’s only narrow-gauge railway, a mere 76cm wide. A survivor of a more leisurely age, it was opened in 1912 up to Ratnapura, primarily to transport the Valley’s agricultural produce to Colombo by British planters. Since the transport of coffee, tea, rubber, cinnamon and coconut, then the main crops of the island, from the plantations around the Ratnapura and Kegalla districts to Colombo, for shipment to Britain took long, thereby adversely affecting the plantation industry, the colonial British planters wanted the railway.During the rule of British Governor Sir Henry McCallum (1907-1913), the KV railway line expanded up to Ratnapura having branched off from Avissawella as a narrow-gauge line to transport agricultural crops. Again, in 1912 the railway line was connected from Ratnapura town to Opanayaka, around 20 kilometres from Ratnapura, which was the terminus of the line.
However, the main stretch from Fort to Opanayaka via Avissawella was shortened up to Ratnapura during WW11, by the British rulers due to the lack of revenues way back in 1947. Eventually, the Ratnapura to Avissawella track closed down in 1976. Subsequently, the line was further extended to Avissawella and finally to Homagama.
The main reason for the extinction of the narrow-gauge railway was the lack of speedy operations due to the sharp regular curves along the line. Once again, the broad-gauge line from Colombo was introduced to the KV Line up to Avissawella, in 1993. The railway line beyond was completely abandoned, and now the line from Avissawella to Yatiyantota and along the way to Opanayaka can only be traced by the remaining ruined stations, huge iron bridges, old telephone posts and stone arched-culverts.
At present, the terminus railway station of Opanayaka has been housed at the Police Station of Opanayaka of the Sri Lanka Police Department and the old building is considered as a most exquisite ruined architectural monument within the Sabaragamuwa Province.
The old railway station in the Ratnapura town was converted into the present bus stand in 1976.
Although the old buildings of the railway station are still used with some modifications, the old grandeur of the railway station is still visible from the remaining old iron-roof with rounded iron beams. ‘Anguru Kaka Wathura Bibi Kolamba Duwana Yakada Yaka’ this is a famous phrase of a popular poem we sang when we were schoolchildren as the trains of that time were mainly steam powered by coal and water, before the diesel train engines were introduced to the Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) then, and now, the Sri Lanka Railway. As proof of the above poem, to date, there is an iconic landmark of an old black rounded water tank belonging to the Kelani Valley railway track, standing majestically at the Avissawella Railway Station.
From Sunday Observer
