A railway line that starts from Egyptian capital and runs through Giza and the eastern bank of the Nile River to Beni Suef located 115 km south of Cairo, will be modernised. It is part of a larger Rail Improvement and Safet for Egypt (RISE) program financed by the World Bank. ENR has awarded a consortium consisting of construction company Orascom and French Thales Group to perform the job.
The consortium will renew track (Orascom), signalling, and telecommunication systems (Thales). The project should be concluded in 5 years with a budget exceeding EUR 300 million. The scope of work includes design, supply, construction, testing, commissioning, provisions of spare parts, training, documentation, guarantee with maintenance services, tracks, and civil works.
Thales will also establish a Centralised Traffic Control Centre in Cairo, which will then control the entire line all the way to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. Included in the project is the cybersecurity solution by Thales, building resilience towards potential cyber threats.
Railways in Egypt were established 170 years ago, making them second-oldest after the British railway system with 8,000 kilometre of tracks.
ENR is also significantly renewing its fleet with new locomotives and trains from Progress Rail, Talgo, Škoda Group, and Siemens Mobility. Siemens will supply 41 Vectron locomotives, 41 Velaro high-speed trains and 94 Desiro high-capacity trains, the first of which was recently shown by the company.
