Official reveals crucial feature in General Electric train engines purchased by Egypt

CAIRO – 10 August 2020: The Ministry of Transportation revealed there is more to the $602.05-million deal with General Electric to supply 110 train engines as those are remote control locomotives that can be operated from towers designed for that purpose.

Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) Sami Abdel Tawab told Al Watan newspaper Monday that the new engines are mainly operated by the drivers and that the control tower serves to intervene in emergencies.

Sources at ERA told Egypt Today in July that the fifth batch of the train engines supplied by General Electric will arrive in August.

The batch will consist of 20 units bringing up the total supplied units to 90. Until present, 44 entered service.

The contract, worth $602.05 million, provides that the company supplies 110 train engines, rehabilitates 81 others of the current fleet at Tebin Workshop in Cairo, and supplies spare parts for 15 years, in addition to offering technical support.

In a similar context, the second batch of the Russian railway vehicles are expected to dock at Alexandria Port within the coming days, carrying eight vehicles shipped by sea.
 

Earlier, Egypt received the first batch that included 22 ordinary vehicles with dynamic ventilation.
 

An experimental trial of the model vehicles that arrived in June is underway without passengers to ensure its safety in preparation for the operation of the first batch of vehicles during July.
 

The new Russian vehicles will start to arrive in Egypt as of July, with 30 vehicles arriving each month, and by the end of the year, the authority will receive 180 new vehicles.
 

The cost of the 1,300 vehicles is €1.065 billion that are being funded in the form of a soft loan.
 

The agreement with the Russian-Hungarian alliance, led by Transmachholding Company, includes the supply of the 1,300 vehicles within 40 months of the date of activating the signed contract.
 

The agreement includes manufacturing and importing 800 air-conditioned vehicles.