LE 67M allocated to development of railway stations: official

CAIRO – 25 August 2018: A total of LE 67 million is set to be spent on the development of the railway stations, Deputy Head of the Railway Authority, Maghdy Al Sabagh, said Saturday.

This came in conjunction with the government’s plan to provide Upper Egypt’s railway stations with electric power-feeding system for the railway signaling equipment.

“I rejected the minister of transport’s request to raise the price of railway tickets,” Sisi stated during his speech to the students and governmental officials at the National Youth Conference.

President Sisi affirmed that the ticket price will not be raised until the whole railway system is developed.

His recent statements came following the unfortunate train derailment in Aswan that resulted in the injury of six passengers.

Railway Authority Chairman Sayed Salem was sacked immediately after the accident.
Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat ordered the formation of a technical committee to investigate into the reasons behind the Cairo-Aswan train derailment.

In a statement on Sunday, the minister said the deputy chairman of the Railway Authority will chair the committee.

According to media reports, the railway network will not be entirely developed until 2022, as the Ministry of Transportation announced earlier that four mega development projects aiming to upgrade the railway signaling will be fully completed by 2022.

In addition, the ministry announced that 1,300 train cars will be added to the railway network in addition to 100 new tractors to increase rail safety.

The Egyptian government decided to focus on the railway sector and worked on rolling out new accident prevention measures to promote rail safety; most recently was the inducement of a new system entitled "the license system", which is expected to take effect in 2019.

According to the Railway Authority, approximately 1,000 train collisions take place in Egypt each year.

The new system stipulates that the worker must undergo drug and psychological tests as a strict and indispensible condition to take on any rail-related job; that is in addition to advanced trainings and courses to ensure optimal performance.

Also, workers need to undergo similar tests when renewing their work license every two years.

According to the Railway Authority, and under the new system, no worker can be transferred to work in other railway lines before undergoing training and courses dedicated specifically for each respective line.