Thanbyuzayat was at the Myanmar end of the 400km-long Death Railway from Thailand and was built by forced labour to support the Imperial Japanese Army’s offensives during WWII. The museum’s curators say it will house mock-ups of Japanese soldiers forcing Allied prisoners-of-war and conscripted Asian labourers to work in inhumane conditions.
The museum will also feature similar photographs, artefacts and railway relics as its counterpart in Kanchanaburi, Thailand does. A highlight of the Thanbyuzayat collection will be a Japanese-built C-0522 steam locomotive.
At present, the locomotive and a sign saying Thanbyuzayat was the western terminus of Death Railway are the only reminders of the dark days of WWII here. A nearby war cemetery is home to the final remains of 3,000 of the Allied prisoners who lost their lives building the line.
Talamon Company also has a contract to build a restaurant, a hotel and souvenir shops in the area around the museum. The company has so far not started building these. 12GO ASIA sells tickets for trains, buses and taxis to numerous destinations in Thailand and these include Kanchanaburi.
2016 opening for Myanmar Death Railway Museum
News in Asia
Media sources in Myanmar say the country’s Death Railway Museum is scheduled to open in April 2016. Construction work on the two-floor structure in the nation’s Thanbyuzayat Township began in April of this year and is being coordinated by Talamon Company.