Local company to supply supporting locomotives to Egyptian railways

CAIRO – 11 October 2020: The Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) signed Monday a contract with Semaf For Trading & Engineering Services affiliated to the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) for the latter to manufacture and supply 100 locomotives to support air-conditioned trains operating on long lines.

Egypt had signed a contract worth €125.6 million with Talgo for the Spanish company to supply six trains that will be operated on long lines. The deal includes 90 railcars, six engines, 30 first-class air-conditioned railcars, 48 second-class air-conditioned railcars, six power railcars and six cabooses. The first batch will arrive in March.

ERA also signed a contract worth €1.065 billion with Transmashholding to supply 1,300 railcars. The contract is funded by a soft loan worth €1.02 billion granted by Hungarian Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and State Specialized Russian Export- Import Bank (Eximbank of Russia). The 1,300 railcars shall be delivered over batches within 40 months by the end of 2021 since the loan procedures were finalized in December 2019.

The contract states that 650 railcars will be supplied from Hungary, 500 will be delivered by Russia, and 150 will be manufactured by Egypt under the supervision of Transmashholding. An Egyptian locomotive factory will be established as part of a plan to localize the locomotive industry in Egypt and transfer the know-how to workers, technicians, and engineers in the sector. The factory will produce 150 railcars and also provide maintenance services.
 

The contract consists of 500 third-class air-conditioned railcars, 180 second-class air-conditioned railcars, 90 first-class air-conditioned railcars, 500 third-class dynamic-ventilation railcars, and 30 air-conditioned cabooses.

For train engines, ERA signed a contract worth $602.05 million with General Electric for the company to supply 110 train engines, rehabilitate 81 others of the current fleet at Tebin Workshop in Cairo, and supplies spare parts for 15 years, in addition to offering technical support.

The delivery of the GE engines and the Transmashholding railcars has begun.

In November 2019, The Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) signed with PRL (Progress Rail Automotives) a number of contracts worth $466.3 million after a meeting with President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

The American company should supply 50 train engines over 22 months, carry out long-term maintenance for 41 engines by June 30, 2020, and upgrade 50 others within 30 months since the conclusion of the deal. The company will also provide maintenance services and spare parts for those 141 train engines for 15 years. The value of contracts will be secured through soft loans, except for $27 million that will be paid by ERA’s treasury.