Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, Kanchanaburi

Thailand-Burma Railway Centre is yet another place - arguably the best, say some - to learn about the Death Railway of Kanchanaburi. It is a facility specially set up as a museum and information centre to present the history of the Thailand-Burma Railway, the railway that ran 415 km from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbuyuzayat in Myanmar.

The museum provides an insight into the history of the railway, in a factual, authoritative perspective, making use of modern display techniques. The exhibits are in eight galleries. Entrance is thorugh a wooden bridge built to replicate the technique used in building the bridges of the railway.

Although the British had mooted the idea of a rail link between Thailand and Myanmar, it was the Japanese, upon invading Southeast Asia, that pushed forward the plans to build the rail route. The purpose was entirely military, so supply troops and equipment into Burma for ultimately the invasion of India.

The Japanese had originally planned to engage Asian labourers from Burma, Java and Malaya for the job, but with the fall of Malaya, Singapore and Dutch East Indies, they decided to tap on the large number of prisoners of war. The POW's were grouped and sent to work on various projects such as mines, constructions and dockyards.

The first group of POWs sent to work on the Thailand-Burma Railway numbered some 3,000 men. Work on the railway began simultaneously at Thanbyuzyat in Burma and Nong Pladuk in Thailand. The condition was appaling, to say the least, and between late 1942 and late 1945, as many as 13,000 POW's died on the project.

In October 1943 the Thai and Burmese sections were connected in the town of Konkoita, Thailand. With the completion of the work, the POW's were transferred from the jungle camps to the base caps and hospitals.

The Thailand-Burmese Railway operated six trains per day between 1943 until the Allied victory in August 1945. The POWs and Asian labourers were rehabilitated and returned home, although some of the POWs stayed behind to recover their comrades.

The Thailand-Burmese Railway is today no longer in operations. The railway line to Kanchanaburi today goes as far as Nam Tok Railway Station. Due to neglect and lack of maintenance, the railway line fell into disrepair. The line and coaches were sold to the Thai government in 1947, and the money used as war reparations.

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