Myanmar has announced plans to restore a 105-kilometer section of the notorious "Death Railway" to Thailand built by Japanese-held prisoners of war during World War II.
Railway Minister Aung Min said "other countries" will help when work on the railroad starts in October.
The railway will provide a much needed economic boost for Myanmar's Three Pagodas Pass area and help attract tourists, officials say.
Some 13,000 POWs and 100,000 civilian forced laborers perished after being forced to work in inhumane conditions to build the 424-kilometer railroad between 1942 and 1943.
The rail link, which connected Myanmar with Thailand and Bangkok, was destroyed by Allied bombers in 1945.
The construction of a bridge along the link over the River Kwai was made famous by the novel and film "A Bridge on the River Kwai."
