Egypt is set to build the country’s first high-speed train line that will connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The entire route will run for 1000 kilometers, and the first 460km-long section will link up El Alamein on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast and Ain Sokhna, two small but quickly developing towns. The train line will pass through 15 stations, including the as yet unnamed ‘new administrative capital,’ a huge construction project that was started in 2015 to move government buildings about 45km outside of Cairo.
The construction of the train line is set to be completed in two years and will be designed, installed and maintained by Siemens, the German industrial manufacturing company.
“We are honored and proud to expand our trustful partnership with Egypt,” said Joe Kaeser, president and CEO of Siemens AG. “By building a high-efficiency rail system for the country, we will support the Egyptian people with affordable, clean and reliable transportation.”
Although the Siemens project will bring Egypt’s first high-speed train, the country has had a train network since the 1850s, and it was the first country with a train system in Africa and the Middle East. Egypt’s current network has more than 5000km of track connecting nearly every major city and town, but the system is antiquated and underfunded, which has resulted in a number of deadly accidents in recent years. Egypt is now receiving a monthly shipment of new Russian-made train carriages to upgrade its rolling stock.
Morocco is home to Africa’s first high-speed train, called Al Boraq, which opened in 2018 and runs between Tangier and Casablanca. The new train line meant that the trip between the two cities was cut down from nearly five hours to just over two hours.
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