Death Railway and the Bridge over the River Kwai
Enclosed by forest then opening up onto sheer cliffs, just barely hanging on the edge, before crossing the Kwai Yai River at the Bridge over the River Kwai outside Kanchanaburi City, the Death Railway is perhaps the most scenic rail line in all of Thailand.
The tragic story started during World War 2. Japan needed a supply route to Burma and India across land because the Allies controlled the sea. So the Thailand-Burma railway line, later known as the “Death Railway” was built.
The construction of the railway should have taken many years but they managed it in little over a year (from June 1942 to October 1943) causing the death of at least 120.000 men, some say many more.
Most of these were Asian laborers but there were also a substantial amount of prisoners of war mostly Australians, British, American and Dutch. The entire line is 415 km and runs through, at times, extremely difficult terrain.
There is little debate over the above statements. There are however certain aspects of the whole River Kwai issue that are not correct. The reason for most of these fictional twists of history stem from the novel by Pierre Boulle and the Hollywood movie by David Lean.
First of all there has never been a bridge over the River Kwai during war time. The bridges (there were two of them, one temporary and of wood and one of concrete and steel) was built over the Maeklong River. Most of the railroad tracks ran through the Kwai Noi River valley and so it is believed that the misconception about the name started.
Later the Maeklong river was renamed to the Kwai Yai river to match the movie and the tourists beliefs. Many people upon seeing the bridge are disappointed as they expected to see a bamboo and wood construction like in the movie. But even though it was bombed six times during the war, the bridge was rebuilt and the bridge standing today is basically same as at the end of the war.
The arched sections at either end stem from the the toils of the forced laborers, only the two square middle sections were built by Japan after the war as part of the rebuilding efforts. Kanchanaburi with all its sights and spectacular scenery is definitely worth a visit and can be easily done as a 1,2, or 3 day tour from Bangkok.
River Kwai bridge is featured in our River Kwai day tour.
Visit our Facebook page for more pictures in the album River Kwai.
I love stopping over in Thailand, especially Kanchanaburi. Friendly people and great tasting food.
Right 🙂