Past
Ghana’s railway network, although confined to the south of the country, once extended to a total of 1,300 route kilometres, linking three of the main cities in the shape of a letter “A”. Although it always hosted passenger services, like railways in much of Africa, its real purpose was to get minerals to the ports.
Constructed to Cape gauge, 3ft 6 inches (1067mm), the system opened in the first decade of the Twentieth Century, when Ghana was still the British Colony of the Gold Coast. The first line, and its branches, led from (what is today) the twin city port of Sekondi-Takoradi in the west to the gold and bauxite mines to the north. This so-called Western Line eventually terminated in the second city of Kumasi.
The Eastern line stretched up from the capital, Accra, and served diamond mines. It was begun in 1910 but only reached Kumasi in the 1920s. It was not until the 1950s that the Central line, following an inland route in the south, and completing the “A” shape, was opened. With a branch from Accra to nearby Tema, by then the country’s largest port, opened in 1954, the network was complete by independence in 1957.
Ghana’s railway network suffered almost inevitable decline during the final decades of the Twentieth Century and by the early 2000s most of it was gone. The railway never totally died however, and from the 2010s onwards two sections have been rehabilitated and now offer an extremely limited passenger service.
Present
In October 2024, there were just four passenger services a day in the whole country: one commuter train made the daily trip from Tema to Accra in the morning and then returned in the evening; at the other end of the country another train brought workers from Sekondi to Takoradi and then took them home again.
Future
In late November 2024, only a few weeks after I left Ghana, a brand new standard gauge line linking the port of Tema with Mpakadan, about 100km to the north, was opened. The project was completed using finance from India.
Although the line is destined mainly for freight, two diesel multiple unit trains have been delivered from Pesa in Poland in order to operate passenger services along the way. Several intermediate stations have been constructed as part of this plan.
The new line is actually part of a bigger project to improve the movement of goods along the eastern side of the country. It forms the first stage of a 1000km route that might one day connect the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, to Tema.
This larger project is part of an even grander scheme that plans over 4,000km of railways across the country over the next quarter of a century or more. The rehabilitation of the track around Sekondi-Takoradi with dual gauge sleepers and possible extension of the line back towards Kumasi, is all part of that plan.
The map is below adapted from a presentation within the rail masterplan website. It shows all the planned standard gauge lines. I have shown the now-completed line to Mpakadan in pink, whilst the line heading north from Takoradi / Sekondi still under construction is shown in grey. Lines planned for Phase 1 are in green, Phase 2 in blue and Phase 3 in yellow.
How much of this gets built of course, is any one’s guess, but we should wish the Ghanaians well in their endeavours.
Return to = 2024 – Ghana – “Accra Station”
Trains To Beyond 
