Delivery of Egypt's 5th batch of GE train engines postponed to September, more units to arrive

CAIRO – 17 August 2020: Source at the Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) told Egypt Today that the delivery of the fifth batch of the General Electric train engines scheduled for mid-August has been postponed to September and that the number of units due to arrive became 30 up from 20.

When ERA receives those, the total of the GE train engines delivered will be 100 out of 110 ones included in the $602.05-million deal. Until present, 44 entered service.

The contract also consists of the rehabilitation of 81 others of the current fleet at Tebin Workshop in Cairo, and the supply of spare parts for 15 years, in addition to offering technical support.

The Ministry of Transportation revealed there is more to those engines as they 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.