EGYPT: A consortium led by Deutsche Bahn International Operations has been selected to operate and maintain the first phase of the country’s future high speed rail network, dubbed the ‘Suez Canal on Rails’.
Expected to cost more than €12bn, the 2 000 km three-line network will serve around 60 stations. The lines are being designed to carry passenger services at a maximum speed of 230 km/h and freight trains running at up to 120 km/h.
With Egypt’s population expected to grow from 105 to 160 million by 2050, the high capacity network is seen as a central pillar in a sustainable public transport network and a regional flagship for modal shift. It is being developed by a Siemens Mobility-led consortium under a contract signed on May 28, and the first line is scheduled to begin operation in 2025.
Under a 15-year contract valued in the single-digit billion euro range, the DB IO subsidiary of DB ECO Group and local partner Elsewedy Electric will be responsible for operating and maintaining the 660 km Green Line linking Mersa Matruh on the Mediterranean coast to Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea via Cairo and the New Administrative Capital. This includes the operation of high speed, regional passenger and freight services, plus maintenance of the infrastructure, stations and rolling stock.
Awarded by the National Authority for Tunnels on behalf of the Egyptian government, the contract was signed on November 8, on the fringes of the UN COP27 climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh. It is the company’s third major project to be awarded this year following contracts to operate and maintain the Delhi Regional Rapid Transit System and the expanded GO Transit network in Toronto.
