The Accra-Nsawam railway line that serves thousands of commuters to and from the capital on a daily basis is now a death trap.
A survey conducted on the rail line by the Daily Graphic revealed that a number of the bolts and nuts (fasteners) that ensure that the tracks are safe for the movement of the coaches are loose and rusted.
Besides, most of the steel and wood slippers, some of which are said to be over 100 years old, are also rusted and rotten respectively. Many of them have sunk into the soil, with no ballast (gravels) beneath them.
The situation, which could spark the derailment of coaches, has been aggravated by the worn-out wheels of the coaches.
The Accra-Nsawam rail line is the most convenient mode of commuting for most people living in Accra and Nsawam, especially traders who convey farm produce and processed food from Nsawam to Accra each day.
Rusty, weak coaches
It was also observed that the rusty and weak coaches which were part of 15 sent from Takoradi, the headquarters of the Ghana Railway Corporation (GRC), in 2007, had not seen any major maintenance work.
Currently, the company is financially handicapped and unable to take the coaches to its headquarters to be rehabilitated due to the non-existence of rail lines from Accra to Takoradi.
Rampant derailment
A source at the GRC told the Daily Graphic that the situation was extremely worrying as the company recorded seven derailments in 2013 and had so far recorded five along the line 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 source said.
Possible grounding of service
It said rail services may have to be halted as a means of saving lives if maintenance was not carried out immediately.
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.
Government support
It hinted that the company was badly in need of new tracks, fasteners, gravels, as well as steel and wood slippers, which it was not in a financial position to import.
“It is only after rehabilitation that we can ensure the safety of the huge number of passengers who board our coaches each day,” the source stated.
It also said the company could refurbish the coaches to make travelling by train safer if it were assisted financially by the government.
Source: Graphic Online