Does Ghana Have Railway Lines To Operate The New Modern Trains From Poland?

The new train assembled in Poland for railway transportation in Ghana has been handed over to the Ghana government at a ceremony in Poland.

This is the first batch of 12 state-of-the-art trains from Poland, marking a pivotal moment for Ghana’s transportation sector.

According to the report, it will be used on the new Tema-Mpakadan standard-gauge railway line.

It will transport passengers from Mpakadan through Kpong, Juapong, Doryumu all the way to Tema port and then the passengers can switch from the standard-guage line to a narrow-gauge line to take them all the way to the heart of Accra.

 

 

 

Arrival Of Train In Ghana

The first train, designed to operate seamlessly on both regional and long-distance lines is expected in Ghana by the middle of March 2024.

This is the first ever standard-gauge procured by the government of Ghana for operations in Ghana.

The handing over ceremony was done in Poland on Friday, February 2, 2024.

The expectation is that the train will leave Poland sometime in the middle of February 2024 with a transportation period of about four weeks and get to Ghana in the middle of March.

It will then go through system testing, close all the gaps, do some trial runs and then will be ready for commissioning by the President sometime in June 2024.

 

 

This has left a lot of people wondering, does Ghana even have a railway line to operate these trains?

The government of Ghana’s strategy to develop the country’s railway industry to improve its socioeconomic condition has constructed the Tema-Mpakadan rail project which involves the construction of a 97.6km-long standard gauge railway line between Tema and Mpakadan in Ghana.

The Tema-Mpakadan project is being built as part of a multi-modal transportation network designed to improve connectivity between Tema Port and the country’s northern regions. It is a component of the first phase of the 1,000km Ghana-Burkina Faso Railway Interconnectivity Project, which will build a railway line between the Port of Tema in Ghana and Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso.

 

 

Construction of the project began in July 2018 and is expected to be commissioned this year. It was previously planned to be completed in 2021 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The railway line will feature six passenger stations and a freight terminal near the Tema Port. The railway terminal is intended to enable easy cargo transportation to and from Ghana’s north and beyond to ports in Tema.

 

 

The project also includes a 300m-long railway bridge connecting Senchi and Old Akrade across the Volta River. The Tema-Mpakadan railway project will provide safe, quick, and cost-efficient transportation of goods to Ghanaian shippers.

The new line is expected to provide a reliable transportation mode for transit shippers and shippers in the northern portion of the country. It will also serve the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali.

 

 

The project is expected to relieve traffic congestion by reducing cargo movement on roadways, as well as alleviate other axle load-related problems associated with the transportation of cargo to landlocked countries.

 

 

 

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