Egypt plans to invest a total of EGP 55 billion (USD 3.1 billion) for the rehabilitation of its national railway network over the next five years, which will include the addition of 1,000 new rail cars, the country’s Transport minister, Hesahm Arafat, announced. Arafat also said that Egypt has a clear and comprehensive plan to develop all aspects of the country’s railway system, including infrastructure, locomotives, railcars and rail signalling system. Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi said, in 2017, that there was a need for upgrading the railway network to prevent major accidents happening. He stated at the time that EGP 180 billion (USD 10 billion) needed to be invest into the system in order to modernise it. Minister Arafat said that Egypt has signed deals with General Electric for the supply of 100 locomotives and the refurbishing of 81 others, as well as access to funding for another 100 locomotives. “We have also signed deals for 1,300 passenger carriages and 300 others for rail freight cars,” he stated, adding that the system will see the upgrades take effect by 2019. Egypt’s railway system still has a poor safety record, with frequent deadly collisions often blamed on lack of maintenance and poor management.
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