This famous bridge is located about four kilometers northwest out of Kanchanaburi provincial town. It crosses the Khwae Yai River. It was built in the last two years of World War II as part of the 415 kilometers rail road track between Bangkok and Rangoon.

The Japanese used 16,000 Allied prisoners of war, mostly from Britain, Australia, U.S.A. and Holland, and 100,000 Asian labourers to build the line. A great number of them died during the building of the track and the bridge. Just before the end of the war, the allies bombed the bridge. After the end of the war in 1945, four kilometers of the track from the Burmese-Thai border were destroyed by the British. The remaining 300 kilometers in Thailand were sold to the State Railway Authority of Thailand in 1947. Today only 130 kilometers of the line is still in use, linking Bangkok with a small town further west of Kanchanaburi.