The Story of Rat Falls
In the construction of railways in Sri Lanka, the British first built the main railway line from Colombo to Badulla. It took place in several phases and under the first phase, the section of the railway line from Colombo Terminus to Keenadeniya was built. The Colombo terminus station is now out of use and the Colombo Fort station is in use today instead. Keenadeniya railway station is now known as Ambepussa. Under the second phase, the railway line will be extended to Polgahawela and then the construction of the railway line to Kandy via Rambukkana has started. The British had to face many challenges in constructing the railway through the steep topographical features found after Rambukkani, known as the gateway to the central hills.
Kadigamuwa railway station was the first to be built within a distance of four miles after Rambukkani. Then the Baddewela railway station, now known as Gangoda, was built. From Baddewela onwards, the railway line was built along a cut in the slope of the nearby giant Alagalla mountain range, and it was a very steep slope. The British had to face another huge challenge in constructing the railway along this steep slope. In front was seen a very high waterfall falling along the slope of Alagalla. The nearby villagers called the waterfall as Miyan Ella. Valagoda Oya flows as Miyan Ella, which is created by the springs that originate from the Alagalla mountain range. After the creation of Miyan Ella, Walagoda Oya, which flows through several nearby villages, eventually joins Ma Oya. In the past, a considerable amount of water flowed down from this place and in order to build the railway beyond that place, the British had to overcome the challenge of building the railway along this waterfall.
In order to overcome that challenge, the British first blocked the waterfall at the beginning of the waterfall and divided the stream into two smaller streams that flowed along two nearby points on the Alagalla slope. After that, the rocks on the Alagalla slope where the streams of water flowed were dug slightly inward at the two respective places and the newly constructed railway line was made waterproof. Finally, the railway line was built along a further cut across the slope to build the railway line. Indeed, it was an extremely steep pass and the British found it very difficult to pronounce the "Rat Falls" that plunged through the gorge. "Meen Falls" is pronounced as "Meengalla" and the British called this pass as "Meengalla Pass". A railway station was built at that place after the railway line built along the Meengalla Gorge was built a little further. The railway station built at the foot of Alagalla hill was called Alagalla at that time and today it is known as Ula Kotte.
Although the British overcame the challenge of Miyan Falls on the Alagalla slope. During the heavy rains, the section of the railway track near Meyen Ella has to face many hazards. Landslides have occurred in this area during heavy rains and boulders have fallen on the railway line regularly. Moreover, with the heavy rains, the increasing flow of water from Meyen Falls has started falling on the railway line and there was a risk of washing away the railway line. Moreover, in 1897, when the railway line was built only from Colombo to Nanuoya, the night mail train from Colombo to Nanuoya, while reaching the Alagalla railway station, which is now known as Upper Kotte through this Meengalla pass, was hit by boulders that fell into the Meengalla pass due to a derailment, and the train was loaded with rice. Many sacks have also been damaged in this accident. After the accident, it is easier to leave the damaged rice sacks at the place than to take them back, so they were thrown down the Meengalla Gorge or whether the entire train or some train carriages rolled down the Meengalla Gorge due to the landslide. Legend has it that many sacks of rice fell down the Meengalla Gorge. Hearing about this, the nearby villagers came to the foot of the Meengalla gorge to take the rice for their own consumption, and the old grandmothers of the village were especially interested in this. Many young people of the village also came to help the grandmothers and they helped the grandmothers in digging the rice which was mixed with stones and soil. "Acchita Hal Garanava", which has become a famous saying in Sinhala today, was born based on this train accident.
After the above accident, the Colombo-Kandy railway section was closed and two trains coming from Colombo and Kandy stopped on both sides of the Meengalla Gorge and exchanged goods from one to the other. However, as a permanent solution to this, after the British decided that the train should be run through by digging the rock behind it and making a basement, a
basement was built at that place and the railway was built through it. That basement is now known as Tunnel No. 5A. After its construction, it was the second longest building in the country and today it is the third in the country
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