Railway sector sustainable only through freight services – Frederick Appoh

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Railway Development Authority, Dr Frederick Appoh, has stated that Ghana’s ambition to build a sustainable railway sector cannot depend solely on passenger services but must prioritise freight operations, particularly along the Western Railway Line.

Speaking to Channel One TV in Sekondi on the sidelines of consultative meetings with key stakeholders, Dr Appoh explained that the Ghana Railway Company Limited can only attain long-term sustainability through freight services.

According to him, passenger rail services generally require heavy subsidies, while freight operations generate the revenue necessary to sustain the sector.

“Passenger service anywhere in the world virtually doesn’t make a profit. I am repeating, passenger service anywhere in the world doesn’t make a profit. People refer to China. China’s subsidy is $47 billion a year. Let me repeat it, the Chinese government subsidises the passenger service by $47 billion every year. The United Kingdom spends about 15 billion pounds a year. Please pull up your phones and check on Wikipedia. This is data. Railway services will become sustainable only through freight operations,” he stated.

Dr Appoh announced that the authority will introduce freight operations on the Tema-Mpakadan railway corridor.

“We, as an authority, are going to introduce the freight operation on the Tema-Mpakadan. You are all aware that in 2025, we commenced the operation of the passenger service. I will tell you now, the government of Ghana is subsidising that service GHC2.3 million every month, every month to keep the two trains working.

He noted that current efforts are focused on reactivating the Western Railway Line, which he described as the most profitable railway corridor in the country.

“I’m hoping by Q2 of this year, you should see cargo trains on Tema-Mpakadan. In terms of output, the Western Railway Line, we are looking at a minimum of 40 million metric tons per annum.

“If we are looking at $10 per ton, you are looking at $400 million. The Western Railway Line provides what I call the most profitable in terms of railway operations in the country, and having the development up to Nyinahin in terms of the output can develop the entire 3,200 kilometres of railway network that we have in the country. So that is what our focus is. I’m happy to say that by June this year, we are going to have an additional eight kilometres to the Western Railway Line,” he stated.