Photos

A view from the train window on the journey from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok ......better known as the Death railway as so many prisoners of war died in the making of this railway.....The journey starts out at Kanchanaburi (River Kwai) eventually crossing over the wooden Wampo Viaduct and finally stopping at Nam Tok about 1hr 30 mins .....the viaduct is mainly wooden structure and as I said do not look down when crossing.

Since the 1990s there have been plans to rebuild the complete railway, but these plans have not yet come to fruition.

The living and working conditions on the railway were horrific. The estimated total number of civilian labourers and POWs who died during construction is about 160,000. About 25% of the POW workers died because of overwork, malnutrition, and diseases like cholera, malaria, and dysentery. The death rate of the Asian civilian workers was even higher; the number who died is over 150,000 people. The Railway line was 415kms in length and approx 200,000 workers civilian and servicemen were made to build it by the Japanese - they say that for ever sleeper laid represents the death of someone put to work building it.