Death Railway

The Death Railway was built from Thailand to Burma (now Myanmar) by the Axis powers during World War II to complete the route from Bangkok to Rangoon and support the Japanese occupation of Burma. It was so called because of the human cost of its construction. About a hundred thousand conscripted Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied prisoners of war died on the project. An excellent museum dedicated to those who lost their lives constructing the railway called "The Thailand-Burma Railway Museum was opened in Kanchanaburi in March 2003.

The film The Bridge on the River Kwai, though not historically accurate, portrays the horrific life of the prisoners of war during the construction of an important bridge for the railway at Kanchanaburi.