In December 1942 Japan needed a supply route to connect newly acquired territories that stretched from Singapore to the Burma-India border. The almost impenetrable terrain of the River Kwai basin was chosen as the route for a 415 kilometer long Thailand-Burma Railway. Japan brought about 60,000 Allied POWs to work on their railway, along with as many as 200,000 conscripted Asian laborers. In June 1942 work began from both ends. Conditions were brutal, and by the time the line was completed 15 months later, an estimated 16,000 POWs and 100,000 Asian laborers had died working on it. It is said that one worker died for every railroad tie (aka sleeper).
As near as I can tell, October 25, 1943, was when the entire railway was opened.
Hellfire Pass Memorial (80 km from Kanchanaburi, Thailand) commemorates the Allied POWs and Asian conscripts who died working on the most difficult part of the Thailand-Burma Railway. Hellfire Pass is the name given by the POWs for the largest of a 1000-meter series of cuttings through soil and solid rock. The work was done with minimal equipment, including 3.5 kilo hammers, picks, shovels, steel tap drills, dynamite for blasting, and cane baskets for removing the debris.
Is possible to walk along the railway bed cut through the rock by POWs and conscripted Asian laborers. These images are of an area where people frequently leave flags as memorials.
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{K:163889} 10/25/2005