Tema–Mpakadan railway: €20m EU grant for new signalling

The Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) says a €20 million European Union grant will pay for new signalling on the Tema–Mpakadan railway, with the work due for completion by December 2027.

The money will install the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 1 on the line. GRDA chief executive Dr Frederick Appoh says the line now uses only about 20 per cent of what it could carry, more than a year after commercial passenger services began.

“By December 2027, I am confident that the signal system will be installed, the ETCS Level 1 will be installed on Tema to Mpakadan line,” Dr Appoh told a media briefing in Accra.

Without a working signalling system, the line has been limited to one train movement at a time, GRDA has said since April.

The new system is meant to let several trains run at once, including trains travelling in opposite directions, using the three crossing points along the route.

GRDA estimates the upgraded line could handle up to nine train movements an hour, with departures roughly every 10 minutes, depending on operating conditions.

Its nearer goal is at least four train slots, or about 50 per cent use of the line’s capacity, opening the way for more passenger and freight services.

Dr Appoh said Ghana won the money against competition from other countries, including other African nations. “We have been awarded a grant of 20 million euros to do the resignaling of Tema-Mpakadan line,” he said.

He credited the GRDA board, the Ministry of Transport, the authority’s management and its EU counterparts.

3News found no statement on the award from the EU Delegation to Ghana, and GRDA did not say who signed the financing agreement or when.

In April, Dr Appoh told the Daily Graphic that the European Commission had formally approved the grant in Brussels on March 27, 2026, after GRDA submitted an Aide Mémoire on sustainable transport.

The roadmap he gave then included a quality review in May, sign-off by EU member states through the NDICI Committee in September and an EU financing decision in October.

The first payment was pencilled in for December 2026, depending on government procedures.

In July, GRDA put the award at US$21 million. It said the money came from the European Union Sustainability and Interoperability Grant Scheme for Africa and would fix the signalling with ETCS Level 1.

The standard gauge line runs about 97 kilometres from Tema to Mpakadan. It is the first leg of the Ghana–Burkina Faso Railway Interconnectivity Project.

The plan is to move cargo from Tema by rail to Mpakadan, then by barge on the Volta Lake towards northern Ghana and Burkina Faso.

The corridor cost about US$440 million, according to GRDA, although figures quoted in April put it at US$449 million.

Former President Nana Akufo-Addo commissioned the line in November 2024, but paid passenger services began only on October 1, 2025.

A forensic audit ordered by the current government found the signalling, public address system, level crossing controls and point machines incomplete or not working when the line was commissioned, GRDA said in July.

At the latest briefing, Dr Appoh said the service, which charges a GH¢15 fare, carries about 6,800 passengers a week. GRDA wants to raise that to 10,000.

Vandalism adds to the risk. GRDA has recorded more than six cases of stones thrown at trains and 11 cases of stones placed on the track.

On July 30, a passenger train carrying more than 150 people struck six goats on the line.

Container freight services began in late September, and GRDA says rail has carried about 3,800 containers out of the ports.

It is working alongside Maersk Logistics and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to ease congestion at Tema Port.

Dr Appoh has argued that cargo, not passenger fares, must pay for the railway.

“Passengers pay 15 cedis. That will not even pay for fuel, let alone overheads,” he said on TV3’s Hot Issues in July.

He admitted the sector is still in financial difficulty. “We are still at the place where we are trying to survive,” he said.