Rail transport in Ghana

The railway system in Ghana has historically been confined to the plains south of the barrier range of mountains north of the city of Kumasi. However, the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway, totalling 1,300 kilometres,^[1] is undergoing major rehabilitation and inroads to the interior are now being made. In Ghana, most of the lines are single tracked, and in 1997 it was estimated that 32 kilometres were double tracked.

There are no rail links of the main system with adjoining countries. However, the Lomé—Aflao line of the Togo rail system is partly located in Ghana.^[2] There are also plans to extend the Kumasi-Takoradi railway to Paga, by the Burkina Faso border,^[3] plus a branch from Tamale to Yendi.^[4]

On 31 August 2022, an agreement was announced to upgrade the 299 km Western Railway to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), to be operated by Ghana Railway Co and Thelo DB will as rail manager for the US$3·2bn project.^[5]

Time line

Inverse order.

2020

Several SGR are under construction, including

• a line from Tema, via Ho and Tamale to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. This line is called the Ghana Burkina Faso Interconnectivity Project. This project began with the phase one construction of the Tema-Mpakadan Railway Line, which runs from the Tema Harbour to the Inland fishing harbour at Akosombo.
• a concrete sleeper plant at Hemi.

2024

• Procurement of two Diesel Multiple Unit passenger trains^[6] from Polish rolling stock manufacturer, PESA.^[7]

See also

• Railway stations in Ghana

References

External links

• unofficial website of Ghana Railways
• Winchester, Clarence, ed. (1936), "The Gold Coast", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 674–684, illustrated description of the railways of Ghana

Further reading

• Fred Shelford, "On West African Railways", Journal of the Royal African Society, 1 (April, 1902), pp. 339–354