In 1917, L.S.S.O’Malley described the coalfields in the upper reaches of the Damodar as follows: “Near the western boundary of Jharia field is that of Bokaro, covering 220 square miles (570 km2), with an estimated content of 1,500 million tons; close by is the Ramgarh field of (40 square miles), but the coal is believed to be of inferior quality.

A still larger field in the same district is the Karanpura, which extends over 544 square miles (1,410 km2) and has an estimated capacity of 9,000 million tons.”[1] Ramgarh Coalfield covers an area of 98 square kilometres (38 sq mi) and has total coal reserves of 1,059.20 million tonnes.

[2] Geological reserves in the Ramgarh Coalfield in million tonnes as on 1/4/2010:[3] In 1927, Bengal Nagpur Railway opened the 72-mile (116 km) Barkakana-Muri-Chandil line to traffic.

In the same year the Central India Coalfields Railway opened the Gomoh-Barkakana line.

Later, these lines were amalgamated with East Indian Railway.