Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 .
The Death Railway Museum has been established at the western terminus of the railway. [8] In the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, 3,626 Allied servicemen (mostly Australian, British and Dutch) [9] are buried. [10] All prisoners who died on the Burma side have been re-buried at Thanbyuzayat except for the Americans who have been repatriated. [9]
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]
(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.
The Kingdom of Siam, the country's name at that time, now known as Thailand.The first Siamese railway projects, which were discussed from the 1840s onwards, were aimed at linking the then British Burma to the Chinese market, which was to be run over Northern Siam for reasons of accessible terrain, a project that had been operating in various variations up to the 1880s, but never realized.
The pass has been the main land route into western Thailand since ancient times. It is one of the few passes in the Tenasserim Hills.. The pass is named after three pagodas erected in 1929 by Phra Sri Suwan Khiri, the ruler of Sangkhla Buri, with the assistance of local villagers, and has reputedly served as a route for Indian monks in the 3rd century to disseminate Buddhism in Thailand.