Why was Death Railway built?

The Burma-Thailand railway (known also as the Thailand-Burma or Burma–Siam railway) was built in 1942–43. Its purpose was to supply the Japanese forces in Burma, bypassing the sea routes which had become vulnerable when Japanese naval strength was reduced in the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway in May and June 1942.



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1650. England – Whickham, County Durham. Two boys die when they are run over by a wagon on a wooden coal train way. While such tramway accidents are not generally listed as rail accidents (note the lack of accidents listed for the next 163 years) this is sometimes cited as the earliest-known railway accident.

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Liverpool Road Station, Manchester, England, is the world's oldest station.

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1830. 15 September – United Kingdom – William Huskisson becomes the first widely reported passenger train death. During the ceremonial opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, while standing on the track at Parkside, he is struck and fatally injured by the locomotive Rocket.

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The 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami train wreck is the deadliest recorded train disaster in history, claiming the lives of at least 1,700 people.

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Death Railway Trip Only three trains run this route between Kanchanaburi station and Nam Dok daily – a journey across 19 stops. Foreigners are charged 100 THB for a one way, single ticket. Tours include the train ticket.

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From October 1942 to October 1943 the Japanese army forced about 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) – including 13,000 Australians and roughly 200,000 civilians, mostly Burmese and Malayans – to build a railway linking Thailand and Burma.

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The Death Railway starts at Nong Pladuk, a junction on the Bangkok to Singapore main line some 80km west of Bangkok. The line heads northwest to Kanchanaburi, over the Bridge on the River Kwai, along the Kwae Noi ('Little Kwai') and over the Wampo Viaduct to Nam Tok, the current terminus for passenger trains.

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Begunkodor Train Station, West Bengal As it is believed, these women were once killed in a train accident on the Begunkodor railway station and they appear at midnight because their souls haven't found peace. The fear around this station is so much that it is often called the ' ghost railway station of India'.

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On 6 October 1866, brothers John and Simeon Reno staged what is generally believed to be the first train robbery in American history. Their take was $13,000 from an Ohio and Mississippi railroad train in Jackson County, Indiana.

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London Underground – 1890 Originally opened between Paddington and Farringdon Street in 1863, the London Underground in the UK is the oldest metro in Europe and the world.

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After being withdrawn from service, most steam locomotives were scrapped, though some have been preserved in various railway museums. The only steam locomotives remaining in regular service are on India's heritage lines.

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The oldest railway in continuous use is the Tanfield Railway in County Durham, England. This began life in 1725 as a wooden waggonway worked with horse power and developed by private coal owners and included the construction of the Causey Arch, the world's oldest purpose built railway bridge.

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