Looming danger on the rails
My experience travelling aboard the 15-coach train from the Dome train station to Accra has not been a pleasant one, as today both the rail line and the train that serve thousands of commuters, mainly women traders and schoolchildren, are now a death trap.
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On September 5, this year, I dashed to the Dome train station at 6:45 a.m. to wait for the coach, and what greeted my eyes was disheartening.
It had rained the previous night and a large section of the tracks were submerged in the mud, an encounter that revealed how risky travelling by train that day could be.
The metal and wooden sleepers of the tracks were completely lying in the water; the bolts and nuts (fasteners) were rusted and loose and there were no ballasts (gravels) beneath the tracks.
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Revealing adventure
To gain a deeper insight into the challenges facing the Ghana Railway Corporation (GRC) in operating the Accra-Nsawam rail line, I embarked on a train travel adventure for two months from Accra to Nsawam, at least once a week. The Accra-Nsawam rail line forms part of the eastern line from Tema through Koforidua to Kumasi,
It was fun travelling on the rattling coach from Accra through Circle, Achimota, Dome, Taifa, Pokuase, Kotoku, enjoying the jerky and galloping movement, squeaking of brakes, hissing of the engine, as well as the outside scenery such as the green vegetation, new settlements, water bodies and farms along the way.
During one of the trips, the coach pulled over at Kotoku at 11:30 a.m. and we had to wait close to 45 minutes due to danger ahead. Some of the loose bolts and nuts on a stretch of the track had completely come off.
The danger was detected by a 72-year-old farmer, Mr Atukwei Clottey, when he was returning from his farm at 9 a.m. and he hurriedly ran to the Amasaman Train Station to alert the workers who in turn signalled the train driver of the defect.
“If we had not been informed of these loose joints, the train could have derailed travelling at the normal speed,” some of the workers who pleaded anonymity told the Daily Graphic.
Days after the incident, I walked along the rail line from Ofankor through Pokuase, Amasaman to Kotoku. It was a pathetic sight, seeing countless rusted and loose bolts and nuts that compromised safety on the tracks. Refuse dumps and excrement also abound within and along the tracks.
Rampant derailment
The poor state of the coaches and tracks, the workers said, was extremely disturbing as the company recorded seven derailments in 2013 and had so far recorded five this year.
“Since the wheels of the coaches are worn out, they often touch the rusted bolts and nuts of the tracks and cause them to hang loose and this is dangerous. These are signs that everything is outmoded - the tracks, fasteners and wheels of the coaches,” the sources said.
In spite of these overwhelming challenges, the management of the GRC has managed to prevent coaches from grounding to a halt for the past seven years.
However, engineers of the railway were worried that if major maintenance is not carried out immediately, the train service could be halted as a means of saving lives.
“Last two years, one of the locomotive engines somersaulted at Amasaman while negotiating a curve and it took the GRC a month to re-rail it.
“So you can imagine if the passenger coaches had followed the engine, they would have all somersaulted and that could have caused untold fatalities,” the source added.
Financially handicapped
The company is currently in need of new tracks, fasteners, gravels, as well as steel and wood sleepers, which it is not in a financial position to import.
“It is only after rehabilitation that we can ensure the safety of passengers who board our coaches each day,” the source stated, adding, “We can refurbish the coaches to make travelling safer if we receive financial support from the government.”
Revamping rail system
When the Daily Graphic contacted the Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, she acknowledged that the government was aware of the deteriorating nature of the eastern rail lines and was working to involve the private sector on a public-private partnership to revamp the sector, including the construction of an in-land port at Boankra near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region,.
“Revamping the capital-intensive rail system could put a lot of pressure on the government budget and we have engaged TA Pricewaterhouse Coopers to advise us to fetch private investors.
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“This firm will undertake feasibility studies, request for proposals and evaluate bids to select the best option and guide the process till financial closure, expected to be in 18 months.”
According to Mrs Attivor, the firm has already visited the rail lines to assess their condition and has submitted a report.
“We are now considering the next phase and as soon as we get a contractor, he would start redeveloping the rail line and in-land port projects,” she said.
With the assurance of the minister, the question as to whether the government is truly bent on turning the fortunes of the viable railway company around and ensure the safety of thousands of passengers appears to hang in the balance.
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“The government, for many years, has always assured us of addressing the challenges but nothing has come out of such assurance,” the workers said.
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