{"id":803,"date":"2026-06-16T05:38:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=803"},"modified":"2026-06-16T05:38:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T05:38:57","slug":"sunken-train-station-on-infamous-wwii-death-railway-resurfaces-from-thailand-reservoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=803","title":{"rendered":"Sunken train station on infamous WWII \u2018Death Railway\u2019 resurfaces from Thailand reservoir"},"content":{"rendered":"
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KANCHANABURI, Thailand (AP) \u2014 A depot on World War II\u2019s infamous \u201cDeath Railway\u201d has resurfaced from beneath a reservoir where the site has remained underwater for decades, prompting researchers to race to western Thailand to survey the remnants of Nithe Station.<\/p>\n

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Thousands of Allied prisoners of war and Asian laborers toiled and died building the railway, a supply route through mainland Southeast Asia for the occupying Japanese forces.<\/p>\n

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand recently drained the reservoir at Vajiralongkorn Dam for maintenance, revealing the station. Historians are seizing the uncommon opportunity to further study the site in Kanchanaburi province for artifacts and to verify details.<\/p>\n

But time is limited, as the completion of the dam\u2019s maintenance in August and Southeast Asia\u2019s rainy season may begin refilling the reservoir.<\/p>\n

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Nithe was a major station along the 415-kilometer (257-mile) railway that connected Thailand, known at the time as Siam, with Myanmar, known then as Burma.<\/p>\n

The railway was built by about 60,000 Allied POWs mainly from Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Indonesia, known then as the Dutch East Indies, as well as hundreds of thousands of Asian laborers, whom the Japanese called r\u00f6musha.<\/p>\n

More than 12,500 of the POWs and 75,000 laborers died during construction, which inspired the widely used nickname \u201cThe Death Railway.\u201d<\/p>\n

The railway was featured in the classic 1957 film \u201cThe Bridge on the River Kwai\u201d and the 2013 movie \u201cThe Railway Man.\u201d It also was the focus of the award-winning novel \u201cThe Narrow Road to the Deep North,\u201d which became a 2025 miniseries<\/span> starring Australian actor Jacob Elordi.<\/p>\n

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Resurfaced station presents unique chance<\/h2>\n

Independent Australian researcher Martyn Fryer flew from Perth to see the site. His grandfather died as a POW working on the railway after his 1942 capture in Singapore.<\/p>\n

He stomped through muddy bogs in sweltering 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) heat to \u201cunderstand what those lads went through and to appreciate the country and the terrain that they endured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fryer, who wrote a book about his grandfather\u2019s regiment, titled \u201cFrom the Woodlands to the Jungle,\u201d scanned historic railway embankments with a metal detector. He found iron dog spikes, bridge staples and other war artifacts.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve been to Nithe Station three times in the past, but the water level has always been too high to actually really appreciate the fantastic offerings that it has with the remaining infrastructure and the layout of the railway itself,\u201d Fryer said.<\/p>\n

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