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When was the Burma Railway constructed?

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Map showing the height of Japanese territorial expansion in 1942 during World War II, with a large hatched area covering much of East and Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, including parts of China, Korea, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and numerous Pacific islands. Japan's home islands are shaded in solid red, while the expansion area stretches from India and Burma in the west to the Aleut — Burma Railway In World War II Japanese military forces quickly took advantage of their success at Pearl Harbor to expand their holdings throughout the Pacific and westward toward India. This expansion continued relatively unchecked until mid-1942. Then, after losing the Battle of Midway, Japan was forced on the defensive.

The construction of the Burma Railway took place between June 1942 and October 1943.1

Built by the Japanese during World War II to support their forces in the Burma Campaign, the project utilized a massive workforce of approximately 200,000 Asian conscripts and over 60,000 Allied prisoners of war. The railway, which spanned 258 miles (415 km) from Ban Pong, Thailand, to Thanbyuzayat, Myanmar, was completed under brutal conditions that resulted in the deaths of more than 12,000 Allied prisoners and tens of thousands of forced labourers.1