THAILAND ONE/ TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
KANCHANABURI: A SCENIC JOURNEY INTO A DARK PAST
« Today, a 130km stretch of the railway track remains only in Thailand, re-opened by The State Railway of Thailand in 1957. It’s a route that keeps its origins in Ban Pong’s town, wedged almost centrally between Bangkok in the east and Kanchanaburi to the northwest, and ends at Nam Tok – the present-day terminus of the Death Railway on the fringes of Erawan National Park.
War Cemetery
Death Railway
F ROM 1942-1943, during World War II, 60,000 American, Australian, British and Dutch Allied Prisoners of War and an estimated 100,000 Asian civilians were subjected to slave labour in constructing the Thai-Burma Railway by the Japanese forces who occupied Thailand. It was a 415-kilometre rail line between Thailand and Burma, at the neck of the shared peninsula, whose tracks were torturously gouged through jungle terrain and rock cuttings by hand to procure a transport route for weapons, troops and supplies. The 1943 ‘Speedo’ period saw a rapid acceleration in demand for completion, increasing the torturous conditions. In its construction, around 13,000 POWs and 90,000 civilians from Thailand, Burma and Malaysia died from brutality, disease and malnutrition, giving it the name The Death Railway. The railway was operational until June 1945,
and the border tracks were destroyed in 1946 on the British Empire’s orders, protecting Today, a 130km stretch of the railway track remains only in Thailand, re-opened by The State Railway of Thailand in 1957. It’s a route that keeps its origins in Ban Pong’s town, wedged almost centrally between Bangkok in the east and Kanchanaburi to the northwest, and ends at Nam Tok – the present- day terminus of the Death Railway on the fringes of Erawan National Park. Travelling from Bangkok, many visitors are unknowingly already on the railway’s path before they reach Kanchanaburi, where the lesson of the region’s dark history poignantly begins. You can visit Kanchanaburi on a day trip from Bangkok, whether self-planned or on a small group tour. However, the rise of eco-lodges and floating river cabins draws in those looking to stay overnight and enjoy the town’s nature reserves. »
War Cemetery
JEATH Museum
The oldest of the Death Railway museums having opened in 1977, the JEATH War Museum is dedicated to the victims of the River Kwai Bridge and the Death railway construction. JEATH meaning: Ja- pan, England, Australia, America, Thailand, Holland. Alongside artefacts donated by survivors, a Japanese transportation train, and photographic dis- plays, the museum presents reconstructions to bring to light the horrific circumstances that the POWs faced. From Bamboo huts where prisoners lived, train carriages where they were held prisoner, to models of the crippling working conditions, JEATH aims to show the brutal realities of war. »
Those who died in the toil of the railway build were buried in unmarked graves alongside it, and the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery was one of three final resting places established after the war in honour of those who lost their lives. The two other war cemeteries are located in Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar (the final terminus) and Chong Kai, close to Kanchanaburi. As you stand within the manicured lawns lined with row upon row of graves with inscribed bronze plaques, it’s a sad realisation of the human cost of the railway you will soon travel.
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THAILAND ONE
JUNE/ JULY 2024
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