Completion of the Burma Railway

17th October 1943

The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, is a 415 kilometres railway between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma, built by the Empire of Japan during World War II, to support its forces in the Burma Campaign. Forced labour was used in its construction. About 180,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war worked on the railway. On 17 October 1943, the two sections of the line met about 18 km south of the Three Pagodas Pass at Konkuita. Most of the POWs were then transported to Japan.