African railway company the Thelo DB consortium signed a $3.2-billion rail management agreement with the government of Ghana, through the Ghana Railway Company in Accra, Ghana, on August 22 to develop and operationalise the Western railway line.

As such, Thelo DB consortium – consisting of Thelo DB and Transtech Consult – will undertake planning, implementation, operations and maintenance management of the project.

Planning includes all project preparation-related activities, such as feasibility studies, demand analysis, preliminary and detailed design, and procurement consulting, while implementation duties involve systems engineering design, construction supervision, design review, audit systems engineering, testing and commissioning of rolling stock and infrastructure.

The operations and maintenance management aspect of the project will involve early train operating, consulting services in terms of infrastructure operations, rolling stock operations, infrastructure and rolling stock maintenance.

When completed, the project – which includes the associated infrastructure, training and operations and maintenance management – will “transform Ghana’s existing rail network into a modern, robust and integrated railway system”, states Thelo DB consortium in a statement.

This rail system will run from the Port of Takoradi to Huni Valley to Obuasi, and include the branch line from Dunkwa to Awaso to Nyinahin, and to Eduadin.

Thelo DB chairperson Ronnie Ntuli says the project is aimed at developing, implementing and operationalising the Western railway line as a fully-integrated railway system to enable efficient mobility of freight and passengers.

“This will, in turn, catalyse investment and infrastructure development, and promote trade, skills development and job creation, thereby generating broader economic growth in Ghana, and hopefully, the broader West Africa region.”

The investment for the Ghana Western Railway Line project will ensure rail infrastructure is upgraded and that there is interoperability of railway systems, new standardised rolling stock, the required maintenance facilities, a spare parts regime and operational integration into other transport infrastructure and systems.

Ghana Railway Development Minister John-Peter Amewu says that, currently, the transportation of freight, including minerals and other bulk commodities along the Western corridor, is predominantly by means of the road network because the railways are in a poor state.

“The Western railway line has a very huge potential in terms of the haulage of both liquid and bulk cargo. For instance, current projected annual haulage on the Western rail line for manganese and bauxite is about 7-million and 15-million metric tonnes, respectively.

“An additional five-million metric tonnes of bauxite is estimated to be mined and transported annually from the new bauxite deposit at Nyinahin using the railway,” he says.

The Bulk Oil Storage and Company has also been projected to haul over 1.5-billion litres of oil products along the corridor; while other commodities that are transported along the Western corridor include cocoa, timber and cement.

“Rail transport is, therefore, critical to the success and achievement of all these traffic projections since it provides a cheaper and more efficient means of transporting such commodities,” says Amewu.

The fully integrated development model is an innovative one for Africa, the railway sector especially, because the Western Rail Line project will be funded on a ring-fenced project finance basis.