On 26th November 2016, the small town of Kojokrom in the Western Region became the unlikely stage for what was hailed as a turning point in Ghana’s railway history. Crowds cheered as then-President John Dramani Mahama cut the ribbon to commission the Sekondi–Takoradi–Kojokrom railway line, declaring, “This marks the beginning of the transformation of the railway network in Ghana.”
The mood that day was electric. For decades, Ghana’s colonial-era rail network had fallen into ruin, its tracks overtaken by weeds and its trains abandoned. The commissioning of the 15-kilometre suburban line, with terminals at Kojokrom, Sekondi, and Takoradi and stations at Sekondi Prisons, Ketan, Butuah, and Essaman, seemed like the first step toward a long-awaited revival.
The project, which cost $165 million, promised to ease passenger and goods movement in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis. People were jubilant, hopeful that Ghana’s trains were finally back on track.
Nearly a decade later, those hopes have withered into silence.
Today, Kojokrom station is a ghost of its grand opening. The metal benches are rusted, the silver gates dull, and weeds creep over the roof. Cobwebs lace the waiting areas, and the once-luxurious coaches stand immobile, their bodies eaten by rust in shades of brown and orange.
The only sounds now are those of children playing football on overgrown tracks at Sekondi station, five kilometres away. What was meant to symbolise progress has become a playground of neglect.
For residents like Michael Amponsah Safo, a student at the University of Mines and Technology, the decay is painful to witness. Walking past the idle train daily, he once filmed a video posted on X (formerly Twitter), lamenting:
“We haven’t seen any engineer coming to visit the train. Nobody is boarding it. Nothing is being done about it. As a matter of urgency, the government must make the rail run again.”
When operational, the line was popular. Stephen Mensah, a resident, recalls the convenience: “The trains were fully air-conditioned. In 25 minutes, you could get to Takoradi. Villagers could bring their foodstuffs to the city without stress.”
But that service lasted only briefly. Commissioned in 2016, it took nearly a year before operations began. Then, in March 2020, the line was shut down for conversion from narrow to standard gauge—a policy shift under then-Railways Minister Joe Ghartey. COVID-19 delayed the works further. A brief restart in October 2020 soon fizzled out. By 2024, the service was suspended entirely.
Today, the Sekondi-Takoradi rail remains a stranded investment.
With worsening road traffic, the absence of the train service is deeply felt. “It used to take 20 minutes to get to Takoradi by road. Now it can take 30 to 45 minutes because of traffic,” complained Kwabena Abadu, another Kojokrom resident.
Frustrated locals say they will petition their MP, Grace Ayensu Danquah (Esikado-Ketan), to pressure the Ministry of Railways to act. “The train should not be abandoned,” Mensah insists.
The Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA), which oversaw the project, offers little clarity. Its spokesperson, Sahadatu Alhassan, admitted the shutdown stemmed from “issues between GRDA and the Ghana Railway Company” but refused to elaborate. “The least said about it, the better,” she told reporters.
At the Government Accountability Series on 17th September 2025, Transport Minister Joseph Bukari Nikpe also dodged specifics. He cited unpaid contractor certificates and ongoing negotiations with firms like Amandi but gave no timeline for restoration.
The collapse of the Kojokrom line underscores the broader failures in Ghana’s rail sector: political fanfare without follow-through, costly projects stranded in bureaucratic limbo, and infrastructure left to rot.
At Sekondi station, a broken clock still hangs, its hands frozen in time—a haunting metaphor for a $165 million project stuck in decay.
Once celebrated as a milestone in national development, the Sekondi-Takoradi railway today stands as a reminder of how easily promises of progress in Ghana can be derailed.
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