Hungary supplies Egypt with dozens of new railcars within €1B deal

CAIRO – 7 December 2022: The Ministry of Transport announced Wednesday the resumption of the supply of Hungarian railcars after months of suspension because global crises.

The announcement came on the occasion of a delivery of a batch consisting of 37 air-conditioned third-class railcars. Thereby, the total number of railcars arriving from Hungary amounts to 196, and 695 from the coalition with Russia.

The ministry noted that a press statement that Hungary's Ganz Mavac will supply the rest of the 1,300-railcar deal, and that it had already delivered 50 cabooses.

A contract worth €1 billion was signed with Transmashholding to supply 1,300 railcars. Those include 500 dynamic-ventilation third-class units, 500 air-conditioned third-class units, 180 air-conditioned second-class units, 90 air-conditioned first-class units, and 30 air-conditioned cabooses.

The deal was a must given that only 2,200 passenger railcars out of 3,200 were functional.

As those require well-functioning engines, Minister of Transportation Kamel al-Wazir stated in April 2021 that LE53 billion had been allocated to the purchase of new train engines, and the rehabilitation of 400 out of the 800 existing ones.

The ministry signed a contract worth $602 million with General Electric to acquire 110 new train engines and rehabilitate 81 others. The company would also supply spare parts and carry out maintenance for 15 years. The 110 new train engines were supplied and 21 existing ones were rehabilitated.

Another contract was signed with ProgressRail for it to supply 50 train engines, upgrade 50 existing ones, and rehabilitate 41 others. A maintenance contract worth $466.1 million was signed with the same company to maintain those 141 engines over 15 years.

The ministry plans to invite tenders to acquire 100 train engines with a fund worth €290 million offered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Another contract worth €157 million was signed with Talgo to supply six trains along with engines and carry out maintenance for seven years.