The Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL) has taken delivery of a number of maintenance equipment to help maintain both the existing and new rail lines.
The move signifies a new dawn of hope for the country’s ailing Railway sector and also indicated government’s unflinching interest in the development of the rail network of the country.
The equipment purchased by the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) through its contractor, Amandi Holdings, included Ballast Tamping set, Rail Profile Grinding machine, Tamping Jacks, Rail Lifting jacks and Hydraulic Weld Shear.
The rest are Combination Points and Crossing Track machine, Ratchet Drill, Ballast Forks and shovels, Fishbolt Wrenches, Coach Screwing machines, Traversing Trolley machine, Rail Drilling machines, Sleeper Drilling machine and Electronic Hand-Pushed Trolley Amber among others.
They were purchased at a cost of over $2 million.
At a brief ceremony to hand over the new machines to officials of the GRCL, Mr Richard Dombo, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRDA said what befell the railway sector was lack of maintenance.
“Until the creation of the Ministry of Railway Development, Ghanaians are witnesses to the fact that the railway network in the country was nothing to write home about. It had grounded to a halt”
“We are grateful to the current government and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the creation of the ministry which in collaboration with other stakeholders had ensured the revival of the railway sector”, he stressed.
He mentioned that the GRDA contracted the GRCL to undertake phase one of the Railway Master Plan which included the rehabilitation of the existing rail lines.
“It was a herculean task because the railway workers had to adopt the manual way of rehabilitation since there were no equipment for the job”.
“But they managed to rehabilitate the Accra-Nsawam line which will soon be in operation, the Accra-Tema line and the Kojokrom-Tarkwa line”, he added.
Mr Dombo said, the current NPP government would like to leave a lasting legacy in the railway sector which would not only be the rehabilitation of the lines but also ensuring that routine maintenance was done.
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