Hellfire Pass Memorial, Kanchanaburi
The deepest cutting on the Burma Railway, hacked through rock by hand, and the memorial museum above it.
Hellfire Pass Memorial, Kanchanaburi
Hellfire Pass - Konyu Cutting - is the deepest and most difficult section of the Burma Railway, driven through solid rock about eighty kilometres north-west of Kanchanaburi. It was cut almost entirely by hand, with hammers, chisels and baskets, by prisoners of war and Asian labourers working in shifts around the clock. The name comes from the appearance of the cutting at night, lit by carbide lamps and fires.
The memorial museum on the ridge above tells the story of the line through survivor testimony, and a path leads down from it into the cutting itself, where the rock walls still carry the marks of the drilling. A longer walking trail continues along the abandoned formation past further cuttings and embankments.
The rails were lifted after the war and the site is quiet forest now, which is much of its effect. It is well beyond the town and requires a road journey.
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