Reuters reported that engine drivers in Bosnia's regional railways company ended a 44 day strike on Friday, re establishing a line of vital supplies and dispatch of stockpiled inventories for the country's metal industries that have been hurt most.

The drivers agreed to return to work after the government pledged assistance in resolving the problems in the indebted state owned Serb Republic Railways Company.

For the fourth time in a year cargo traffic came to a standstill after the drivers went on strike over the refusal by the company's management to increase their pay.

Steel major ArcelorMittal said earlier in November it would be forced to send home most of the 850 employed at its Bosnia iron ore unit in the northwestern town of Prijedor unless the strike ends.

The production at its main plant was halted on October 17 because its storages, holding around 200,000 tonnes of iron ore, were full and it was prevented from delivering supplies to its customers. It said the strike had cost it several million euros.

It had said the company was due to produce more than 1.8 million tonnes of iron ore in 2011 but that the target was unlikely to be reached because of the strike.

The strike also choked vital supplies of feedstock for Bosnia's sole steel maker ArcelorMittal Zenica, located in the central town of Zenica in the Muslim Croat federation, the country's other autonomous region.

Neither of the two companies were able to provide an immediate calculation of the total losses suffered because of the strike.

(Sourced from Reuters)