About three kilometres of the 60-kilometer active rail line stretching from Takoradi through Akyem to Nsuta in the Western Region has been destroyed by illegal mining activities, halting the Ghana Railway Company’s manganese haulage and other operations.

The damage, which was discovered last Wednesday [Oct 1, 2025], has affected rail tracks, sleepers, and works at Akyem, a community near Nsuta in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, while large portions of the land on which the rail line lies are degraded in yet another telling impact of illegal mining, commonly called galamsey in local parlance. 

The destroyed stretch no longer sits on solid ground but hangs over pits dug by the illegal miners, while other sections are covered with sand.

The damage came to the attention of the company only last week when someone passing through the area informed the District Manager about what he had noticed on the ground.

Officials of the Ghana Railway Company said a full-scale assessment would tell whether the damage was restricted to the Akyem area or extended into other places.

The officials estimate that it could cost the company at least $18 million to repair the damaged portion of the rail line.

Sources say the illegal miners secured the land from local traditional authorities, who have maintained support for the day and night illegal mining activities in the area, which have left the environment seriously damaged.

The miners are said to have acquired the land, including the Ghana Railway Company’s right of way and buffers, in the community.

The galamseyers in the community are said to deploy a technology known locally as “one leg,” which involves the combination of a big water hose and a high-pressure water pump to wash the earth after initial digging by an excavator.

The “one leg” is said to be more deadly in terms of speed of destruction of the environment than the conventional excavators.

Collapsed operations

The company said the hard truth was that the illegal miners had collapsed its manganese haulage operations, which were one of the biggest contributors to the national economy.

The Deputy Chief Civil Engineer of the company, Emmanuel Aggudey, explained to Graphic Online's Dotsey Komla Aklorbortu that for purposes of safety and maintenance, the company halted operations in January 2025, having appealed to the government for financial support to fix its rolling stock, namely the locomotives, tracks, sleepers, and wagons, as well as to undertake some works on the lines.

“Within these few months of trying to put things in order, the galamseyers took advantage of the situation and invaded the lines, destroying a very long stretch of active lines, bringing our operations to a standstill,” he said.

Current situation

The current situation, Mr. Aggudey said, was no longer an issue about getting the rolling stock fixed and back into service but instead about how the activities of the illegal miners had now quadrupled the cost of maintenance of the rolling stock and fixing the destroyed stretch.

“The activities of these galamseyers were known to us, and sensing danger, we wrote to the sector ministry and, as a proactive measure, went to the community to engage the chiefs and leaders of the Akyem community. The chiefs assured us that they would ensure that the miners did not go closer to the lines and even have the degraded areas reclaimed,” he said.

Mr. Aggudey said it was mindboggling that the community looked on and allowed the miners to cause such havoc to national assets.

“As we speak, the miners are actively working throughout the day and night with a high level of impunity,” he added.

The Deputy Chief Civil Engineer said at present, due to the finances of the company, “we are unable to get it done, since the money required is beyond the finances of the company, as even our workers’ salaries are in arrears.

Therefore, the damage caused by these illegal miners is serious and creates a difficult situation for the company.”

Mr. Aggudey, however, expressed the hope that the recent efforts to combat galamsey in the region and across the country would lead to the clearing of the miners on the line so that the company could get back on its feet.