The Thailand Collection The Death Railway A Life for every Sleeper The Siam Burma Railway 1942 1943 In June 1942, 61000 British, Australian, American, New Zealand, Danish and Dutch Pows as well as an estimated 250000 labourers from Siam, Burma and Malaya were put to work by the Japanese Imperial Army to construct a railway line 415km long to link Kanchanaburi to the Japanese Base Camp