Railways

The Ghana Railway Network consists of 953 km of 3' 6" gauge track, of which all but 32 km is single line. It is normally regarded as having three main lines - Central, Eastern & Western - with a number of branch lines. The various sections were built over the period from 1898 to 1956, the first being the Western Secondi-Tarkwa line. The initial purpose was to transport exports, such as gold, manganese, cocoa, and timber, but passenger services were later added.

Much of the network is now unused and unusable, but it is recognised that the rehabilitation and development of an efficient rail network is essential to a modern economy, and plans are being made for the extension of the railway to the north to connect with Burkina Faso (Awaso to Hamile, and Ejisu to Paga), and to build an ECOWAS coastal line (Omape to Aflao).

The map above has been based on the Survey of Ghana 1967 Map of Ghana 1:400,000 by highlighting in black the existing railway routes and towns served. Additional towns have been added from those shown on the Survey of Ghana 1962 Map of Ghana 1:500,000, and those listed as passenger stations and stops in Jim Fergusson's Railway and Tramway Station Lists. A few of those in the latter document have not yet been identified. The full lists are given on the sub-pages. In many cases there are small differences in spelling between the timetable stop name and the map name. In some cases this is due to a lack of official orthography at the time, but it is possible that in a few cases whereplaces were not originally on the available maps, the transcriber has attempted to record orally-communicated names without the benefit of knowledge of meanings, e.g. Anwiawra instead of Anwianwia.

For permission to use the above map, contact GhanaPlaNa@gmail.com.