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The Ministry for Railways Development has set up a three (3) Member Fact Finding Committee to investigate the train derailment incident that occurred Monday morning.

The team comprises Hon. Kwaku Agyenim-Boateng, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Railways Development, the Director, Regulations and Assurance, Ghana Railways Development Authority, Lord Quansah and the Deputy Managing Director, Michael Adjei Anyetei.

A statement issued and signed by the Sector Minister, Joe Ghartey indicated that the team has been tasked to "ascertain the cause of the accident, determine the nature of the derailment, make recommendations to forestall any future occurrences of such incidents, make recommendations as to whether or when the Line should be reopened..."

Read full statement below:

DERAILMENT OF ACCRA BOUND TRAIN ON THE TEMA-ACHIMOTA-ACCRA LINE


This morning, October 23, 2017 at 7:40 am, an Accra bound Dual Multiple Unit (DMU) Train from Tema to Accra via Achimota, derailed shortly after it had left the Achimota Station.

Senior Officials of the Ghana Railways Company Limited including the Accra Area Manager, Mr. Woode were on board the train and immediately took control of the situation.

A team of officials from the Ministry of Railways Development, the Ghana Railways Company Limited and the Ghana Railways Development Authority, led by Hon. Agyenim Boateng, immediately rushed to the scene of the derailment.

We thank God that there were very few injured persons and they have all been discharged. The Ministry will bear all the medical bills of the injured persons.

We are monitoring the situation and we want to thank the Achimota Hospital for its assistance.

This is not the Accra-Nsawam line as is being reported by some press houses. The Accra-Nsawam Line has been closed since September and government has released money for the rehabilitation of the Line.

In the past three weeks, permanent way workers of the Ghana Railways Company Limited have been doing routine maintenance on the Accra-Nsawam Line.

The team has been sent to Juaso for a special exercise and they are returning to the Accra-Nsawam Line next week.

I have also established a three (3) Member Fact Finding Committee to investigate the incident. The Committee will comprise the following:

• Hon. Kwaku Agyenim-Boateng (Deputy Minister, Ministry of Railways Development) - Chairperson.
• Mr. Lord Quansah (Director, Regulations and Assurance, Ghana Railways Development Authority) and
• Mr. Michael Adjei Anyetei (Deputy Managing Director).

The Terms of Reference of the Committee are as follows:

- Ascertain the cause of the accident.
- Determine the nature of the derailment.
- Make recommendations to forestall any future occurrences of such incidents.
- Make recommendations as to whether or when the Line should be reopened.
- Make any other relevant recommendations.

The Committee has ten (10) working days from tomorrow, October 24th, 2017 to submit its report. The report is to be submitted by November 6th, 2017. In the meantime, the Accra to Tema shuttle service has been suspended till further notice. The Committee will hold both public and private sittings.

We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Mildred Kumasah, Medical Superintendent, Achimota Hospital and her staff and the Divisional Commander of the Ghana Police Service, Tesano, Chief Superintendent Oduro Amaning and his men for their prompt response.

Our hearts also go out to the injured persons and we will continue to assist them in any way possible.



Joe Ghartey (MP)

Minister for Railways Development