Cairo has one of world's longest metro systems by route length: Cabinet

CAIRO - 19 December 2019: Cairo is among the longest metro systems by route length in the world, the cabinet's media center said on Wednesday.

Cairo came in the 35th place among 114 cities worldwide with metro lines totaling 110.3 kilometers.

By the end of the implementation of Cairo Metro Line 3, 3.5 million passengers will benefit from it daily.

In 2019, the number of trips operated by the metro reached 1,662 daily compared to 1,544 in 2014.

The three lines of the metro include 92 stations that open from 05:00 till 01:00.

Cairo Metro was the first of the three full-fledged metro systems in Africa and the first in the Arab world to be constructed.

Line 1 is the oldest line of the Cairo Metro with its first 29-kilometer segment having opened in 1987. The line, which stretches from Helwan to Ramsis Square, is 44.3-kilometer long and serves 35 stations.

Line 2 is 21.6-kilometer and it serves 20 stations, of which 12 are underground. Line 2 uses the third rail electrification system instead of the overhead line used in the first line.

Line 3 operates from Attaba to El-Shams Club, with construction under way for the remaining line to the northwest of Greater Cairo. It will link Cairo International Airport all the way to Cairo University and Imbaba.

The total length of the line will be approximately 50 kilometers and will be implemented in four phases.

Phase 1 of Line 3 runs from Attaba station to Abbassia station and it opened on February 21, 2012 with five stations and a total length of 4.3 kilometers.

Then other stations were opened on Line 3, including Heliopolis station that was opened in October 2019.