The Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) has denied media reports that a train heading to Tarkwa from Takoradi derailed on the first day it commenced operations.
Operations on the Takoradi-Tarkwa railway had been put on hold for some time now to enable the rehabilitation of the old gauge line.
However, on Tuesday when the train resumed operations, some journalists who were part of its first ride, reported that the train derailed at Amantin, hours after it took off.
The Deputy Manager in charge of Engineering, Dr. Ing. Micheal Anyetei Adjei, however, refuted the claims.
“There was no derailment. Nothing happened. The train was in Tarkwa. It left Takoradi this morning and it is already in Tarkwa. It is working, there is no problem. They do not know what they are talking about. They need to seek clarification on some of these things.”
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Railway sector
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in May 2018 outlined the interest of his government to revive the railway sector, which was virtually non-existent before his administration took office on January 7, 2017.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, December 19, 2018, President Akufo-Addo stated that “the existing narrow-gauge network, which had almost disappeared, and led to a generation of young Ghanaians hardly knowing about railways, is coming alive.”
The President explained that rehabilitation work on the fifty-six (56) kilometre narrow gauge line from Kojokrom to Tarkwa through Nsuta is nearing completion, and will lead to the restoration of passenger rail services from Tarkwa to Takoradi for the first time since 2007.
President Akufo-Addo told the media that the Ghana Railway Company, with its own workforce, has started rehabilitation works on the seventy point eight (70.8) kilometre narrow gauge section of the Eastern Railway Line from Accra to Nsawam and Accra to Tema.