About three kilometres of the 60-kilometre 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, slippers 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 call 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 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.
Graphic