The Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) has taken responsibility for the recent train accident on the Tema-Mpakadan railway line.
The accident occurred during a test run in the Asuogyaman District on April 18th.
The train, recently procured from Poland, was meant to serve the railway line.
The CEO of GRDA, Yaw Owusu, said no prior announcement was made before the testing commenced.
“We were doing regular testing so no announcement was made. But we are in charge so if anything happens, we take full responsibility for what happened,” he said.
In an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Friday, he mentioned that efforts are underway to construct a fence wall around highly congested areas to avoid such accidents in the future.
Mr. Owusu also pointed out that, there have been complaints about the bridges over the railway.
He explained that, the Railway Authority builds bridges every 2km, but some were made for small trucks because they don’t have clearance for larger ones.
However, Mr. Owusu said big truck drivers try to use the bridge made for normal passenger cars, leading to accidents.
“We have had complaints about the bridges over the railway. We build bridges at every 2km but some were made for small trucks because we don’t have clearance for the larger bridge. The big truck drivers don’t want to drive 5km for the other so they want to force and pass the bridge made for the normal passenger cars.”
“Measures are in place for a fence wall for the highly congested areas for cars and people not to pass by heart to avoid accidents like this,” he assured.
The commissioning of the train was planned for the end of June.
But, the CEO said they will hold a meeting today and dully inform the government how long it will take them to repair the train.
After a full assessment, they will communicate whether they can make the commissioning date.
“The commissioning was planned for the end of June so today we will hold a meeting and dully inform the government how long it will take us to repair the train. After a full assessment, we will communicate if we can make the commissioning date,” he said.
Mr. Owusu urged everyone to be disciplined so that the government’s investment won’t go to waste.
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