Homepage > My Holidays Around Thailand > Kanchanaburi > Bridge on the River Kwai

The Death Railway was a strategic railway built between Thailand and Burma. It was 415 kilometres long (about 303 kms in Thailand and about 112 kms in Burma) and passed through the Three Pagoda Pass in Sangkhlaburi District, the most northern part of Kanchanaburi province.

Construction was began on September 16, 1942 at Nong Pladuk, Thailand by approximately 30,000 prisoners of war from England, Australia, Holland and America and more than 200,000 impressed labourers from India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma and Thailand. Of these, more than 16,000 PoW's and 100,000 impressed labourers died of many diseases, due to starvation and lack of medical equipment.

It is said that the first survey by the Japanese engineers predicted that it would take at least five years to finish this railway line, but the Japanese army forced the prisoners to complete it in only sixteen months. Thus it was completed on 25 December 1943.

The bridge is famous today because of the 1957 movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, starring Alec Guiness and William Holden (see poster). The movie was shot mainly in Sri Lanka.

The old train which was used on this railway after the last war. Everyone calls this place "Bridge on the River Kwai" but really everyone in Thailand knows it as "Kwae River" (Kwae rhymes with Square).

Lots of people come here just to walk on this "River Kwai Bridge" and go back. At first, for me, I think it's just a normal bridge but later when I knew the background story, I understood straight away why they came here for. Most of the tourists here are Japanese and European.

It is possible to catch a train that goes across this bridge and beyond. Some of the scenary alongside the river is very beautiful.

Kanchanaburi is 130 kms west of Bangkok. You can go there by bus or train. It takes about 3 hours to get there. More information can be found at Lonely Planet.com and ThailandGuidebook.com