ASIA

by Mr. Terry Manttan, General Manager

The Thailand-Burma Railway Centre is an interactive museum, information and research facility dedicated to presenting the history of the Thailand-Burma Railway. The museum opened in 2003. It is dedicated to presenting the factual and unbiased history of construction of the railway by Allied prisoners of the Japanese and Asian laborers during World War II.

The Museum area tells the story of the Thailand-Burma Railway in a respectful, factual and non-partisan way by using state-of-the-art display techniques. The main six exhibition themes include: 1) Introduction and Historical Background; 2) Building the Railway; 3) Life in the Camps; 4) Medical Technology and the Struggle for Survival; 5) The End of the Railway; and 6) After the War.

This railway ran 415 km from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma, and was built by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II using Allied prisoners of war and impressed Asian laborers. The railway was built by about 240,000 labors from Burma, Java and Malaya, under the control of the Japanese military.

Laborers struggled with diseases, particularly dysentery and savage cholera epidemics, starvation rations, overwork, poor or no accommodation or sanitation, and the individual brutality of Japanese and Korean engineers and guards, and many of them died with little or no medicines available. Over 13,000 prisoners of war perished during the period between late 1942 and late 1945. The number of deaths of Asian laborers is harder to calculate; around 100,000. Especially during the period of July to October 1943, the desperation of the Japanese engineers to finish construction on time, under severe pressure from their superiors in Tokyo, meant that many men were forced to do grinding manual labor all day and into the night.

In 1947 the line and rolling stock were sold to the Thai Government. By 1957 the Thai government re-opened part of the line and this part of the railway still operates today. Much of the abandoned section has now been reclaimed by the jungle, but embankments, cuttings and bridge sites can still be found with the assistance of research staff of the Museum.

Address: 73 Jaokannun Road, Ban Nua, Amphoe Muang, Kanchanaburi
Phone: +66 34 512721
Homepage: http://www.tbrconline.com/
Days closed: Holidays
Admission: B100 for adults and B50 for children aged 7~12 years

(Originally published on Jan. 18, 2010)