4th phase of 3rd metro line to be accomplished 3 months earlier

CAIRO - 21 October 2019: The Ministry of Transportation announced that the fourth phase of Cairo’s third metro line will be accomplished three months ahead of the set deadline so that its stations will enter service in April 2020 instead of July 2020.

In December 2019, Al Nozha 1 and Hisham Barakat stations will be inaugurated as construction works are still being completed in both stations as well as in Omar Ibn al-Khattab, Qebaa, Huckstep, and Adly Mansour stations. That is in addition to a the largest maintenance station in the Middle East that will be located next to Adly Mansour station to maintain the third metro line’s railcars.

On Sunday, Heliopolis metro station, the largest in the Middle East, was inaugurated after the completion of its construction works. Built on 10,000 square meters, Heliopolis station is the second on the fourth phase of the third line after Haroun station, where trains still do not make stops due to undergoing works, but rather continue to El-Shams Club station.

The National Authority for Tunnels will receive the first batch of new air-conditioned trains to be installed on the third metro line in June, announced the authority’s Head Essam Waly.

The arrival of the new batch coincides with preparations to operate stations of the first two parts of the fourth phase of the third line as of April.

Korean Hundai Rottam signed a contract with the authority to manufacture and import 32 new air-conditioned trains to be installed on the third metro line worth €318 million, and L.E. 640 million.

As of June 2020, the arrival of 32 trains will be phased out on batches, where the authority will receive all trains by the end of 2020 to raise the efficiency of the third line with all its four phases and increase the number of operating trains to 72.

The third phase of the third metro line will connect the working-class districts of Attaba, Bulaq and Imbaba with Cairo University in Giza. The phase will also pass through well-off neighborhoods like Zamalek, Mohandiseen and Agouza. The construction work of the 18-kilometer phase officially started in 2017; it includes 15 stops, including Zamalek.

An Egyptian- Japanese coalition has been recently selected to implement the first phase of the fourth metro line in Haram Street, Giza, as part of the government’s major plan to expand the subway service across the capital and beyond.

Around 3.5 million Cairo dwellers use the metro every day. Launched in 1987, the metro has since become the most important means of transportation in Cairo. Female commuters can either choose to take the non-segregated cars or use the women-only carriages. Within the 2030 Vision, it is planned that Greater Cairo houses six metro lines.