The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway is a railway between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar) and was constructed by the Empire of Japan during World War II to support its forces in the Buma campaign.  Specifically it was their intention to use the railway as a supply line for transporting army and war equipment to the Burmese front with a secret motive of invading India.

Forced labour was used in its construction. They used approx 200,000 Asian labourers of which approx 50% died as a direct result of the project. They also used approx 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) to work on the railway. Of these Allied POWs, the dead comprised of 6,318 British, 2,815 Australians, 2,490 Dutch and 356 Americans.

History

A railway route between Thailand and Burma had been surveyed at the beginning of the 20th century by the British government of Burma. However, the proposed course of the line was through hilly jungle terrain which was divided by many rivers and was considered too difficult and costly to complete. In 1942 the Japanese forces, supplies and

The Japanese started the project in June 1942, intending to connect Ban Pong (Thailand) and Thanbyuzayat (Burma) through Three Pagodas Pass.

Construction started at the Thai end on 22 June 1942 and in Burma at approx the same time. Most railway materials including tracks and sleepers were carted from dismantled branches of the Federated States of Malaya Railways network.

On 17 October 1943, the two lines met about 18 km south of the Three Pagodas Pass at Konkuita (Kaeng Khoi Tha),

The most famous portion of the railway is probably Bridge 277 over the Khwae Yai River ("big tributary") It was immortalised by Pierre Boulle in his book and the film based on it "The Bridge on the River Kwai".

The death rate of the Asian civilian workers was even higher and the number who died is unknown as the Japanese did not count them.

The construction of the Burma Railway is only one of many major war crimes committed by Japan in Asia during the war.

The graves of the people who died brutal deaths were transferred from camp burial grounds and solitary sites along the railway to three War Cemeteries after the war, except for the Americans who were repatriated.

The main POW Cemetery is in the city of Kanchanburi (Thailand), where 6,982 POWs are buried, mostly British, Australians, Dutch and Canadians.

A smaller cemetery is located outside the city of Chungkai (Thailand) with 1,750 graves.

At Thanbyuzayat (Burma) there are approx 3,800 graves of POWs who died on the northern part of the line to Nieke.

The three Cemeteries are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

There are several museums dedicated to those who lost their lives constructing the railway, the largest of which is at Hellfire Pass (north of the current terminus at Nam Tok), a cutting where the greatest number of lives were lost.

There is also an Australian memorial at Hellfire Pass.