Amendment to terminate railway employees abusing drugs

CAIRO – 11 March 2019: Hassan Shallal, deputy head of Egypt's State Council and chairman of the legislation department, decided to form a committee to review an amendment of personal affairs' regulations of the Egyptian Railways Authority.

According to the amendment, an employee faces termination in case it is proven that he abuses drugs, Abdel Razek Mahran, head of the technical office of the legislation department said.

The amendments were submitted to the State Council for review in accordance with the legal principles and will be sent to the government for approval.

Amr Osman, assistant minister of social solidarity and head of the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction, said earlier that the fund has tested 5,000 employees working in railways for drugs, and explained that some of them have tested positive. Refusing to give an exact number, Osman said that the railway authority will later announce the figures.

The driver of the train locomotive that killed 20 people in February in Cairo's Ramses Railway Station after crashing into the platform was a drug addict, according to deputy head of the Parliament's Transportation Committee Mohamed Zain.

"The head of Egyptian National Railways (ENR) told me that the driver, who caused the locomotive explosion, was suspended from his work for six months due to drug addiction. But he returned back after servicing the [administrative] punishment," Zain told Egypt Today, adding the driver should, at that time, be referred to the prosecution.