Galamsey activities wreck abandoned Bonsawere railway line in Tarkwa

The once-proud Bonsawere railway line, a relic of the country’s colonial-era transport network, now lies in a sorrowful state.

Known as the Western Railway Corridor in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, it’s tracks are now rusted, buried under heaps of sand and gravel from years of illegal mining activities, galamsey.

Sections of the line have caved in, with gaping pits carved by galamsey operations snaking dangerously close to what remains of the sleepers.

Bushes and weeds have reclaimed the abandoned stretch, while stagnant pools from unregulated mining have eroded the foundation of the tracks.

Each image captures a chapter in this slow-moving tragedy: from rusted bolts loosening under the pressure of time, to heavy machinery tracks marking the land where trains once passed.