Hellfire Pass, known to the engineers as the Konyu Cutting, is the most harrowing and moving site on the whole railway. Here prisoners of war and Asian labourers hacked a deep passage through solid rock, largely by hand with hammers, drills and baskets, working around the clock. The name comes from the sight of emaciated, torch-lit workers toiling through the night, which survivors said resembled a scene from hell. Many died in these weeks during the so-called 'Speedo' period, when the pace was driven mercilessly. Today an excellent memorial museum, funded by the Australian government, tells the story soberly through survivors' testimony, and a well-made walking trail leads down through the actual cutting, where you walk the same ground in silence. It is a place for reflection, not entertainment: allow time, read the panels, and treat it with the gravity it demands. Wear decent shoes and bring water for the trail, which climbs on the return.
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