SYDNEY, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- With drought ravaging much of Australia's east coast, crop growers and livestock farmers are not the only ones who have been hit hard by the lack of rain.
The mining industry Down Under also relies heavily on water to secure its production.
In one particular case around 140 km east of Sydney, the problem has become so bad that operators at coal sites have been forced to freight water by train.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday, the Southern Shorthaul Railroad (SSR) company has started carrying water on a 40-km route between Centennial Coal's Charbon and Airlie mines near Lithgow.
While the unusual transportation service is being used to keep coal production flowing at the sites, the move is mainly about securing jobs, SSR's Chief Executive General Manager Chris Jones said.
"That would have meant that they would have had to cease coal production in the mine and, for them, that would have meant laying off 140 full-time staff," he said.
With two crew members and 10 hoses, it takes around two hours to fill 30 carts each day. "There have been water trains run but probably not for a few decades now," Jones said.
With the success of the initiative, the NSW government are now examining the prospect of carting much-needed water by train to several rural communities in need.
