Egypt may extend high-speed electric train to Libya

CAIRO – 18 January 2021: Chairman of Libyan-Egyptian Chamber of Commerce Ibrahim al-Garary told Sky News Arabia that both countries contemplate extending Egypt's high-speed electric train - to be accomplished in two years - to Libya.

The railway stretches between Red Sea's Ain Sokhna to the Mediterranean's Alamein city. The line can be lengthened to Libya's Benghazi through Egypt's Saloum town.

Garari stated that the government of his country intends to invest in the project to boost its accomplishment rate. He added that the Libyan committee concerned with the matter will hold meetings with the Egyptian side next week. The meetings also consist of planning for the Libyan-Egyptian Economic Forum to be held in February.

The businessman added that joint railways were among the 10 cooperation agreements signed in 1991.

On January 13, the Ministry of Transport represented by the National Tunnels Authority signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Siemens to implement an integrated system for the express electric train in Egypt.

The total length of the railroads to be extended within the project is 1,000 kilometers, and that the total cost is LE360 billion. The distance between Ain Sokhna and Alamain is 460 kilometers.

German Siemens’s CEO Joe Kaeser said the new high-speed electric train project that the company will implement in Egypt will help provide 15,000 job opportunities in the field of construction in its first phase.

This phase will also provide 2,000 permanent job opportunities, Kaeser said in an interview with Sherif Amer on MBC Masr, adding that the train project will be similar to the one in Germany.