Death railway – Kanchanaburi Car Rental

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (DonRak)

Driver — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 17:01:03 +0000

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (Don Rak Cemetery or United Nations Cemetery). It is located on Saeng Chuto Road, Mueang District, Kanchanaburi Province. This cemetery was the tomb of Confederate prisoners of war who died during the construction of the Death Railway. It is a large cemetery on an area of 27,200 sqaure meter, contains 6,982 graves of British, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war, of whom 6,858 have been identified. The cemetery grounds are beautiful, lush with well-planted grass and it is reminiscent of the events of the battle and its consequences.

In December 1941, after Japan entered World War II, the Japanese army quickly occupied most of the territory of Southeast Asia. Later in the year In 1942, Japan decided to use prisoners of war and civilian labor to build a one-way railway at Ban Pong in the east which connects to the train station at Tanbusayat on the west side to shorten the travel distance and protect the transport routes between Thailand and Myanmar railway line (In other name, “Death railway”) construction About 15,000 prisoners of war and 100,000 civilians were killed due to various ailments, malnutrition, exhaustion and abuse. After World War II came to an end in 1945, the victorious Allies built several memorials to the deceased in Asia, which is an important battlefield. There are monuments in many countries: 2 in Thailand, 3 in Myanmar, 6 in India, 5 in Bangladesh, 2 in Pakistan and in Sri Lanka. For Thailand, the Thai government and the Allies agreed on 24 August 1954 to build two cemeteries, the Don Rak Allied War Cemetery (Don Rak Cemetery) and Khao Pun Allied War Cemetery (Or Chong Kai Cemetery) in Kanchanaburi. In addition, in Kanchanaburi, there is also a monument built by Japanese soldiers to pay tribute to the souls who died during the war, the Thaiyanusorn Monument. As for many other Asian laborers who died unrecorded, there is also a monument to the workers and the unknown soldiers built at Yuan Temple cemetery and some of their skeletons are on display at the World War II Museum.

Reference: thailandtourismdirectory.go.th

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery Location

Located on Saeng Chuto Road in the Northwest of Kanchanaburi, the cemetery is easily accessible by Private car, Taxi, Motorcycle, Bicycle and Walk. There are open everyday 08.00 Am – 06.00 Pm. No admission fee.

Sangchuto Rd, Ban Tai, Mueang Kanchanaburi District, Kanchanaburi 71000

Train Timetable Bangkok to Kanchanaburi

Driver — Wed, 29 May 2024 17:05:23 +0000

Train Station	Train Number 257	Train Number 259
Thon Buri	07.50 am	01.55 pm
Tha Rua Noi	09.50 am	03.47 pm
Kanchanaburi	10.30 am	04.19 pm
River Kwai Bridge*	10.44 am	04.33 pm
Tham Krasae*	11.51 am	05.50 pm
Nam Tok*	12.20 pm	06.30 pm

Train Station	Train Number 260	Train Number 258
Nam Tok*	05.20 am	12.50 pm
Tham Krasae*	05.57 am	01.27 pm
River Kwai Bridge*	07.14 am	02.36 pm
Kanchanaburi	07.21 am	02.48 pm
Tha Rua Noi	07.50 am	03.16 pm
Thon Buri	09.50 am	05.35 pm

There is also a train from Kanchanaburi station to Nam Tok station and from Nam Tok station to Kanchanaburi station, one train per day.

Train Station	Train Number 485
Kanchanaburi	06.08 am
River Kwai Bridge*	06.15 am
Tham Krasae*	07.36 am
Nam Tok*	08.20 am

Train Station	Train Number 486
Nam Tok*	03.15 pm
Tham Krasae*	04.10 pm
River Kwai Bridge*	05.31 pm
Kanchanaburi	05.41 pm

*River Kwai Bridge station close with River Kwai Bridge
*Tham Krasae station close with Tham Krasae Railway Bridge (Death Railway)
*Nam Tok station close with Sai Yok Noi Waterfall
*Tha Rua Noi station close with Wat Tham Suea (Tiger Cave Temple), Wat Ban Tham

Recommend attractions

Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre (Konyu Cutting)

Driver — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 08:44:47 +0000

Hellfire Pass (Thai: ช่องเขาขาด, known by the Japanese as Konyu Cutting) is the name of a railway cutting on the former Burma Railway (“Death Railway”) in Thailand which was built with forced labour during the Second World War, in part by Allied prisoners of war. The pass is noted for the harsh conditions and heavy loss of life suffered by its labourers during construction. It was called Hellfire Pass because the sight of emaciated prisoners labouring by burning torchlight resembled a scene from Hell.

Hellfire Pass History

Hellfire Pass in the Tenasserim Hills was a particularly difficult section of the line to build. It was the largest rock cutting on the railway, coupled with its general remoteness and the lack of proper construction tools during building. A tunnel would have been possible to build instead of a cutting, but this could only be constructed at the two ends at any one time, whereas the cutting could be constructed at all points simultaneously despite the excess effort required by the prisoners of war. The Australian, British, Dutch and other allied prisoners of war were required by the Japanese to work 18 hours a day to complete the cutting. Sixty-nine men were beaten to death by Japanese guards in the six weeks it took to build the cutting, and many more died from cholera, dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion. However, the majority of deaths occurred amongst labourers whom the Japanese enticed to come to help build the line with false promises of good jobs. These labourers, mostly Malayans (Chinese, Malays and Tamils from Malaya), suffered mostly the same as the POWs at the hands of the Japanese.

The railway was never built to a level of lasting permanence and was frequently bombed by the Royal Air Force during the Burma Campaign. After the war, all but the present section was closed and the line is now only in service between Bangkok and Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi.

Hellfire Pass Present day

There are no longer any trains running on this stretch of the line. The nearest railway station is at Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi, where trains of the State Railway of Thailand can be taken for a trip over the Wang Pho Viaduct and across the bridge over the River Kwai to Kanchanaburi, which is the nearest major town and tourist base. Visitors to the site usually base themselves in Kanchanaburi.

Historical preservation and museum

The Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum and the preservation of the Hellfire Pass itself had its origins in 1983 when former POW J.G. (Tom) Morris toured the area in Thailand and resolved to convince the Australian Government that portions of the Thai-Burma Death Railway should be preserved as an historical site. As a result of his efforts, the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) was commissioned in 1984 to make a survey of the railway to choose a suitable site. Jim Appleby, a SMEC engineer at the Khao Laem dam site on the upper Kwai Noi, did much of the ground work and passed his reports to the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce in 1985. The first dawn service was held at the Hellfire Pass on Anzac Day 1990. The museum is co-sponsored by the Royal Thai Armed Forces Development Command and the Australian government to commemorate the suffering of those involved in the construction of the railway. It was built by the Office of Australian War Graves and opened by the then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard.

Renovated in 2018, the Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre provides information and exhibits about the construction of the Death Railway, and the suffering and sacrifices endured during its construction. The museum includes multimedia displays, artifacts, and a memorial to those who lost their lives. As a part of the museum experience, it is possible to walk through the cutting itself and along a section of the former railway track bed. An audio tour including recorded memories of surviving POWs is available at the centre.

Hellfire Pass far away from Kanchanaburi city around 1 hr with private car or take a bus from Kanchanaburi bus station around 1 hr 45 min. Package tour Hellfirepass

Package tour Hellfire Pass

Tham krasae railway bridge The Death Railway

Driver — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:44:05 +0000

The Death Railway has a long history since the Second World War,beginning at Nong Pladuk Station to Thanbyusayat in Burma. The railway construction began with death because they had to rush to construct. There were obstacles such as diseases, illnesses, weathers, food, shelter, suffered living and hard work which has been entitled as “the Death Railway”

Dangerous curve railway bridge or Krasae cave bridge

Dangerous curve railway bridge or Krasae cave bridge is the railway along the Khwae river, Sai YOK District. The railway construction around this area was difficult because it has been surrounded with steep mountains and bordered by the Khwae Noi river which is the 400-meter long through mountains and about 10 meters higher than the river.During constructing, 2000 captives, foreign alborens and Thai workers had to use a rope to tie their Waist and hung down to extract stones to make railroad tracks along the cliff for using hardwood to support stability. The structure eas made entirely of wood. The foundation pier was made from a large piece of hardwood without using any wood joints support the train weight. It was incredibly finished constructing in only 17 days.

The Death Railway Kanchanaburi

The time for laying of the rail was limited and urgent. As result, When first train journey launched, the Japanese train fell into the Khwae Noi river caused thost who traveled by that journey died. If we count all of dead man combine with all captives, foreign laborers and Thai workers, we would imply that “One life of them exchanged to one Railway sleeper”

Refferal: from the Greater East Asia War, Kanchanaburi pages 53-54

Tham Krasae is in the northern of Kanchanaburi. Far away from Kanchanaburi around 48 min. (50.8 Km.) Travelling to this place must to take private car or buy package tour.

Package tours included The Death Railway

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