Egypt’s Transport Minister Hisham Arafat said on Monday that Egypt is in the process of launching a new high-speed railway linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea with the participation of more than 10 international companies.
The contract for this high-speed railway is due to be awarded by the second half of this year, Arafat said at Middle East Rail conference being held at Dubai, UAE, between March 12 and 13.
“We are currently working on the tender, and we are working on the technical and financial evaluation of the project, and may be completed within four months, and maybe the tender will be awarded by mid-July,” he added.
The transport minister says the ministry is carrying out Egypt’s largest railway development project in cooperation with the private sector, the total cost of which is expected to reach LE55 billion.
Arafat said earlier this month that Egypt’s railway system has not been developed for 60 years. He noted that the ministry has prepared a plan to improve the country’s trains, but admitted that progress has been slow.
In the most recent railway accident, 15 died and 40 people were injured, in a collision between a cargo and a passenger train in Beheira in February.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
