‘Railway University’ Begins Operations

The Ghana School of Railways and Infrastructure Development has finally started operations.

The School of Railways and Infrastructure Development is part of the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa. All programmes being offered by the School are engineering courses.

On January 15, 2021, the first batch of students reported to the School and are currently undergoing orientation.

In 2021, the School is expected to admit some 300 students. Over the next four years, the School is looking to admit about 5,000 students.

The duration of each programme is four years.

For years (2017-2021), the Minister of Railways Development, Hon. Joe Ghartey, spearheaded the establishment of the School.

With the massive investments made in the railway sector by the Akufo-Addo Government, the development of human resource capacity in the sector is expected to record a major boost.

It would be recalled that Hon. Ghartey signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the  University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa to develop the Railways Training School into an accredited Institution of higher learning for the award of certificates and diplomas.

 The collaboration was also aimed at transforming the Railways Training School into a degree awarding university.

And after years of hard work by the Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan Constituency and key stakeholders in the railway sector, Ghana now has a Railway School fully operational.

The School is creating employment in Tarkwa, with residents renting their pro properties to students who have moved to the area to pursue courses in railway development.

The School commenced operations in January 2021.

The School  exists to among other things, provide quality and practical training in rail transport and logistics, responsive to a vibrant market environment through research and technology to adopt the changing world economy with innovative and creative mindset to grow the rail business survival.

It also seeks to become a world class railway institution dedicated to professional excellence in rail transport management.

The successful opening of the Railway University is one of the key legacies of Hon. Ghartey who after his appointment as Minister of Railways Development by President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017, spearheaded the massive transformation of Ghana’s railway sector.

The development of modern, standard gauge railway tracks across Ghana, and several other achievements in the railway sector from 2017 till date, has earned Hon. Ghartey praises from several Ghanaians.

The whole idea of establishing a railway institute for Ghana dates back to 1945 when the Ghana Armed Forces handed over its baracks in Takoradi to the then Ghana Railways and Ports Authority for use by  the Railway Central Training Institute for the training of its staff.

The construction of the Railway Central Training Institute in Sekondi began in 1984 and was funded with a World Bank loan. The project was initially started by Messrs Commazzi Contractors Limited, but was later completed by the State Construction Corporation and Frednaro Construction Limited with Architectural and Engineering Services Corporation as the Constituency firm.

The Central Training Institute was set up to among other things, provide training in such disciplines as signal and telecommunication engineering, permanent way, mechanical and electrical engineering and traffic.

The Central Training Institute was an in-house training institute and had gone into complete disrepair by 2017.

Source: Mervin Terlue, Contributor