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Map of the Death Railway. A railway route between Burma and Thailand, crossing Three Pagodas Pass and following the valley of the Khwae Noi river in Thailand, had been surveyed by the British government of Burma as early as 1885, but the proposed course of the line – through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers – was considered too difficult to undertake.
As a first step, Japan planned to lay the Siam – Burma railway line connecting Siam(i.e., Thailand) and Myanmar. The Siam–Burma railway did not traverse benign terrain. It snaked through dark, deep valleys, climbed high mountain ranges and lengthy mountain passes, crossed great rivers and inhospitable rain forests.
This was part of a project to link existing Thai and Burmese railway lines to create a route from Bangkok to Rangoon to support the Japanese occupation of Burma. About a hundred thousand conscripted Asian labourers and 12,000 prisoners of war died on the whole project, which was nicknamed the Death Railway .
Thanbyuzayat is considered the terminus of the Death Railway, and is where it connected with the Burmese main line (Burma-Siam Railway). [1] The cemetery was formally inaugurated on 10 December 1946 by General Aung San and Governor Sir Hubert Rance. [2] It is open every day between 07:00–17:00. [3]
In contrast to the rest of the Thai railway network, which was built in standard gauge, the Royal State Railways of Siam chose the metre gauge to allow for a seamless connection to the metre gauge railways of Burma and Malaya. The Southern Railway was isolated from the rest of the network, starting from a terminus in Thonburi, on the west side ...
(Burma Railway) 285 km (177 mi) Metre gauge: 25 December 1944 – Ceased operations after World War II. Also known as the Burma Railway or Death Railway. Bangkok–Samut Prakan (Paknam Railway) 21 km (13 mi) Narrow gauge: 11 April 1893 1960 It is the first railway in Thailand. Open in 1893, operated by Paknam Railway Co.Ltd.
He spent 3 years and 8 months as a Japanese Prisoner of War, [2] the majority of this on the infamous "railway of death" in Thailand. Saved from virtually certain death by the timely dropping of the Atom Bomb on Japan , which led to the almost immediate unconditional surrender of the Japanese .
Thanbyuzayat was also the site of a Japanese prisoner of war camp for the prisoners who worked on building the railway, [5] The first prisoners arrived in June 1942. 13,000 prisoners passed through the camp of which at least 6,000 were Australian and 4,300 Dutch prisoners of war. From Thanbyuzayat, the prisoners were moved to work camps on the ...