Prosecutors say the men had conducted a Hyundai truck over the newly constructed line at a section near the dam city of Akosombo, and which got stuck on the tracks.

The incident occurred on April 18, 2024, and conductors engineers manning the train said they unable to bring a train to a halt. The train rammed into the stationary truck which was unoccupied, and took significant damage.

The Railway Ministry reported that no one was injured although parts of the drivers cabin was affected.

The Tema to Mpakadan rail line is one of the Government’s main commitments in the rail transport sector, and thus its completion, and the procurement of two diesel multiple unit trains marked a significant advance. It thus became difficult to explain away perceived ill motive on the part of the operators of the Hyundai truck as there were no level crossings in the area.

The public reacted heavily to the news of the destruction of the much awaited railed vehicles, and police arrested Abel Dzidotor, the truck driver within hours of the incident.

A High Court speed trail immediately followed and he was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to three charges. Police picked up the remaining four barely days after, and also subjected them to a hastened trial.

The Rail Ministry was called out by sections of the public for negligence, but in a statement, said the test runs were announced in advance.

Ghana and Burkina Faso has committed to jointly fund a 1,000 km Tema to Ouagadougou rail project, and the Tema to Mpakadan line is the fist phase. Two trains with 12 passenger coaches each had been imported from Poland with the one involved in the crash being the first to arrive while the second is expected to hit the nation’s shores by August 2024.

The rail development adds to major road networks such as the Eastern Corridor superhighway, and the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor in ensuring West African nations met prospects under the new African Continental Free Trade Area.

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