KANCHANABURI, Thailand -- Three-quarters of a century after the Imperial Japanese Army began its infamous "Death Railway" between Thailand and Burma -- now Myanmar -- the two countries are at work on a new transport link with a much brighter mission: Giving Southeast Asia's hottest economies better access than ever to the world's fastest-emerging markets.
Every year around this time, a lively festival engulfs the town of Kanchanaburi in western Thailand. The history these festivities honor, however, is anything but jovial. In 1942, during World War II, the town became home to a critical juncture in a rail line built by 60,000 Allied prisoners of war, even more laborers from the region and others under the Japanese army to ferry supplies between Thailand and Burma. An untold number of laborers died amid the harsh conditions. It is in Kanchanaburi that the railway crosses over the Khwae Noi River via "The Bridge on the River Kwai," of cinematic fame.
