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| Ghana Railway takes delivery of 70 wagons |
8/26/2012 |
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The Ghana Railways Company (GRC) has taken delivery of 70 high capacity wagons from India for the haulage of mineral ore from the northern part of the Western Region to Takoradi Port for onward shipment.
It also took delivery of 10,000 pieces of steel sleepers and other accessories to replace the wooden sleepers which are believed to be causing frequent derailment of carriage and wagons.
The programme forms part of the government’s initiatives to reposition the rail sector as the major mode of haulage, and also frees the country’s roads of heavy duty trucks carting ore and other cargo across the country.
Each of the 70 wagons has a payload capacity of 40 tonnes, and is said to have been manufactured specifically for the Ghana.
A source at the Ministry of Transport told graphic.com.gh that the delivery of the wagons and steel sleepers was part of an agreement between the Ghanaian and Indian governments.
It said the wagons would be used in hauling of manganese from Nsuta to Takoradi.
The railways component of the $3bn Chinese loan would be used to extend the line beyond Nsuta to Awaso also in the northern part of the Western Region.
Mr Mark Zimah, the Chief Mechanical Electrical Engineer of the GRC, said the 70 wagons would help the GRC meet its manganese haulage target.
He said the package from India involved wagons, workshop equipment, track materials, buses, trucks, and that some of the GRC employees had also been sent to India for training on how to maintain the new equipment.
He said the delivery of the wagons would be done in batches, and that so far the first and second batches had arrived at the Takoradi Port.
An official of the GRC, Mr Daniel E. Mensah, explained that the company’s inability to deliver was because of the small and defective nature of existing wagons and the poor nature of the wooden sleepers.
When graphic.com.gh visited the Takoradi Port, GRC officials were busily laying the wagons on the rail lines at the port.
When the replacement of the Nsuta to Awaso lines is completed it would position the GRC in a position to haul hundred per cent of the country’s manganese and bauxite from the northern part of the Western Region to the south.
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