The railway transportation sector in Ghana received a huge boost last Friday when one of 12 new trains assembled in Poland for railway transportation in Ghana was handed over to the Ghanaian government at a ceremony in Poland.
This is the first batch of 12 state-of-the-art trains from Poland, which will be used on the new Tema-Mpakadan standard-gauge railway line.
It will transport passengers from Mpakadan through Kpong, Juapong, and Doryumu to Tema port and then the passengers can switch from the standard-gauge line to a narrow-gauge line to take them to the heart of Accra.
The Tema-Mpakadan railway line is a 97-kilometer standard-gauge railroad constructed from Tema to Mpakadan to facilitate the movement of goods and people along the eastern corridor of Ghana.
It complements and forms part of the multi-transport system from the Tema port to the southern part of Ghana and the inland port in the northern part of Ghana.
The development of the railway line is about 98 percent complete and it will be completed in 2024.
The Tema-Mpakadan line is part of a planned 1000-kilometer Ghana-Burkina Faso interconnectivity project that will connect Ouagadougou to the Port in Tema.
This is the first-ever standard gauge procured for operations in Ghana, designed to operate seamlessly on both regional and long-distance lines, and it is expected in the country by the middle of March 2024.
According to the CEO of the Ghana Railways Development Authority, Yaw Owusu, it is expected that the President will commission the Tema-Mpakadan line and the new trains, respectively, in June this year.
He said it was key to “ensure consistent and persistent maintenance so that the train can last longer and revealed that Ghana has signed an agreement with PESA for 5 years, hoping to extend the maintenance period to 10 years.
As the transportation landscape in Ghana evolves, the arrival of these modern trains symbolises a promising era for Ghana’s rail sector, bringing with it the potential for improved connectivity, efficiency, and economic growth.
The procurement of these modern trains is part of a comprehensive commitment by the government to enhance the rail network’s efficiency and capacity.
