This famous
bridge is located about four kilometers northwest out of
Kanchanaburi provincial town. It crosses the Khwae Yai River.
It was built in the last two years of World War II as part
of the 415 kilometers rail road track between Bangkok and
Rangoon.
The Japanese
used 16,000 Allied prisoners of war, mostly from Britain,
Australia, U.S.A. and Holland, and 100,000 Asian labourers
to build the line. A great number of them died during the
building of the track and the bridge. Just before the end
of the war, the allies bombed the bridge. After the end
of the war in 1945, four kilometers of the track from the
Burmese-Thai border were destroyed by the British. The remaining
300 kilometers in Thailand were sold to the State Railway
Authority of Thailand in 1947. Today only 130 kilometers
of the line is still in use, linking Bangkok with a small
town further west of Kanchanaburi.
Pictures
copyright: Nattawud Daoruang
Information from: "Thai Studies
Through Games" Book 2 by Assist. Prof. Wadee Kheourai.
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