Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, Kanchanaburi Overview

Located to the west of Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, the Death Railway Museum is a center dedicated to the tragic history of the Thailand-Burma railway line. The museum details how the Imperial Japanese Army took over Thailand along with the rest of Southeast Asia and forced Allied prisoners of war and Asian residents to work under terrible conditions during World War II.

There are eight galleries describing the entire timeline - the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia, the blueprints of the railway, relics of tools used in the construction, personal effects of the PoWs who died during construction, documented stories and videos of the atrocities committed, and the eventual liberation of the prisoners after Allied victory. The museum also has a shop where you can buy books on the railway and local handicrafts made by the Weaving for Women Project in Sangklaburi. There is also a coffee shop in the premises.

The Death Railway Museum Exhibits

The entrance of the museum is through a wooden bridge mockup built using the same techniques that were employed. In the Planning, Construction, and Logistics gallery, visitors will see consecutive panels on Japanese occupation, the dispersal of Allied PoWs, and a mockup of a rice wagon railway boxcar used to transport prisoners from Singapore and Malaysia to Thailand. The hall dedicated to the Geography of the Railway houses one of the museum’s significant features, a 9m model of the original railway line with its exact route through the River Kwai valley. LED lights pinpoint the confirmed locations of all work camps where PoWs stayed.

The Living Conditions gallery has panels describing the accommodations, food supplies, and health of the prisoners. One panel is dedicated solely to the infamous ‘Speedo’ period between March and September 1943, when the majority of the casualties occurred. The Medical Aspects gallery has a hospital hut mockup with panels dedicated to the diseases and health conditions that the PoWs suffered from and how they were treated. There is a detailed analysis of the human cost can be witnessed in the Summar of Deaths gallery.

On the first floor, the End of the Railway gallery describes the brief utilization of the railway, changing conditions of the war in the Pacific theater, and finally the liberation of the prisoners. The final gallery, After the War, describes the human experience of captivity, the trauma of slave labor, the repatriation of the PoWs and Asian conscripts, the search and recovery of corpses, the establishment of war cemeteries, and the sale of the railway line to the Thai authorities.