Accra-Tema railway service to resume next week — Minister

Passenger service on the Accra-Tema railway line will resume next week, the Minister of Railways Development, Mr Joe Ghartey, has hinted.

This follows the successful completion of a test run on the Accra-Tema rail line by the Ghana Railways Company Limited (GRCL).

Mr Ghartey told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the GRCL had also successfully completed a test run of its locomotive from Accra to Nsawam, for which it was planning to restore full passenger service within the month of January.

He, however, pointed out that the passenger service would not resume on that line until the “integrity of the line had been improved.”

“The level of encroachment and sand winning near the Accra-Nsawam line is seriously threatening the integrity of the Achimota to Nsawam portion of the rail line and so we will not resume the passenger service until the integrity of the line has been improved,” he emphasised.

Vacate

The Railways Development Minister, therefore, asked the encroachers near the rail lines to vacate the area for the work to proceed.

“The GRCL has also successfully completed its test run of the Accra to Tema service. This year, 2019, will be a year of blessing for the railways sector. I firmly believe this and I ask you to join me in prayer so that the vision of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for a modern rail network throughout Ghana will be achieved,” Mr Ghartey added.

Mr Joe Ghartey (arrowed), Minister of Railways Development on a tour of some of the rail projects

Evaluation of bids

In a related development, Mr Ghartey said the committee evaluating the bids for the Eastern Line had completed its technical evaluation of the bids and was going on to evaluate the financial bids.

He said the committee was expected to submit its final report which would include the preferred bidder by next week Wednesday.

Mr Ghartey, who inspected work at the location workshop and the Railways Training School at Essikado, near Sekondi, during the Christmas holidays, also expressed satisfaction with the pace of work and said originally the contractors should have completed the work this month.

However, he said the contractor had been given more time to complete additional works on the project in March this year.