The Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) has given an update on the recently acquired train that was involved in an accident on the Tema-Mpakadan rail line a few months back.
In an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen program on Thursday, Nana Ama Opoku, the Assistant Manager of Corporate Affairs at GRDA, stated that the train is currently being repaired at the Tema maintenance yard.
She noted that engineers from the GRDA, along with experts from the manufacturers in Poland, are collaborating to resolve the issue.
“The Polish engineers who assembled the train came to Ghana to assess the damage and perform some preliminary repairs. They have returned to Poland to procure the necessary parts, and they are expected to return by the end of the month to complete the repairs,” she said.
Nana Ama also disclosed that, the second batch of 12 state-of-the-art trains from Poland is expected to arrive in Ghana by the end of October.
“We are anticipating the arrival of the second train by the end of October, and President Nana Addo will commission the Tema-Mpakadan railway line in November. Once the commissioning is done, the new trains will be put into service” she disclosed.
The accident took place on April 18, 2024, during a test run on the Tema-Mpakadan railway line in the Asuogyaman district of the Eastern Region.
This 97 km standard-gauge railway, built from Tema to Mpakadan, is a component of a multi-transport network aimed at improving the movement of goods and people along Ghana’s Eastern corridor.
The line links Tema port in the southern region to the inland port in the northern part of the country.
Addressing any legal actions connected to the accident, Nana Ama Opoku indicated, “The matter is with the government, and I cannot provide an update on the prosecution at this time.”