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The Ghana Railway Company (GRC) is to cough up GH¢ 24,000.00 to hire the services of a private crane company to move its derailed engine and it is also replace rotten sleepers (pieces of wood supporting rail lines) at another cost otherwise railways operations on the Accra-Tema line would be halted.

Currently, the Accra-Nsawam operation is suspended as repair works on the rail line are under way, leaving the Accra-Tema operation which had one of its engines derailed yesterday.

When the DAILY HERITAGE met the Acting Accra Area Manager of the GRC, Mr Abraham Woode, at the location of the train derailment yesterday and asked him how soon the derailed train would be moved from the place, he said, “We are making the efforts to get the money being charged to be able to stabilise the situation.

“Also, we are getting some of the wood from Takoradi to replace the rotten sleepers being removed.”

The DAILY HERITAGE actually saw workers of GRC removing rotten pieces of the wood supporting the rail lines.

About the train accident, Mr Woode said usually the number of coaches on a journey has two engines at both the back and the front of the coaches occupied by passengers.

He said “the train was coming from Tema to Accra and stopped at our Achimota Station for some passengers to alight. When it took off to continue the journey the back engine derailed just some 200 metres away.”

He said only seven passengers out of 400 (some of whom had earlier alighted) got injured and “I made sure they were sent to hospital. I called the Achimota Hospital and they told me they had been treated and discharged.”

Mr Woode appealed to those living along the rail line to abide by the buffer zone.

He said the demarcation used to be 150 feet on either side of the rail line and it was reduced to 100 feet.

“Now it is 50ft, yet people are encroaching. My fear is that when things remain like this and there is a serious derailment, there will be causalities,” he said.

The DAILY HERITAGE spotted a building under construction with “stop work” notice dated October 9, 2107 close to the derailment scene yet carpenters were busily roofing it.

When the DAILY HERITAGE first contacted the Tesano Police Station about the accident, sources at the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate of the Ghana Police Service there said they were not in charge of train accidents.

However, when the paper contacted the Railway Police Station, who are in charge, the District Commander permitted by Ghana Police Service regulations to speak to the media had left the office for a meeting, so no reliable police information on the accident could be obtained.