Sisi directs to upgrade railway, metro networks

CAIRO – 2 November 2019: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was updated on the government’s plan for implementing first phase of the fourth line of Cairo Metro, said Egyptian Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Radi in a statement on Saturday.

The 24-km long line will include 40 stations to connect western Cairo to the northern parts, said Minister of Transportation Kamel El-Wazir in a cabinet meeting with President Sisi at the presidential palace, discussing the ministry’s development plan concerning the railway network.

The plan included new ways of upgrading signal systems and train level crossings and implementing e-services, Radi added.

Around 3.5 million Cairenes use the metro every day, switching between stations to reach their destinations while paying an affordable ticket. Launched in 1987, the metro has since become the most important means of transportation, helping passengers to avoid getting stuck in Cairo traffic or having to negotiate fares with unmetered taxis. Female commuters can either choose to take the non-segregated cars or use the women-only carriages.

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Connecting Greater Cairo

CAIRO - 13 April 2018: As of September, citizens of the affluent suburb Heliopolis will be able to stop at the first station of the under-construction fourth phase of the third metro line, which covers a distance of 48 km, making it the longest metro line in Egypt.

President Sisi also ordered to accelerate contracting with international train locomotive companies to upgrade the railway systems and to finish the construction of monorail in the New Administrative Capital to connect New Cairo with October 6 city and other outskirt of Cairo. He also directed to implement the first high-speed railway in Egypt, extending from Ain Sokhna to New El Alamein City.

In 2018, the Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat said in a conference in Dubai that more than 10 international companies are currently involved in the tender process, he said, without giving any names.

Additional reporting by Nourhan Magdi