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| | This page has been transferred to the Enthusiast's Guide to Travelling the Railways of the Rest of the World - see the relevant [https://www.egtrow.info/wiki/Egypt EGTROW page]. |
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| ==Country Name== | | ==Country Name== |
| Egypt, Misr مصر | | Egypt, Misr مصر |
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| ==Recent and future changes== | | ==Recent and future changes== |
| On 1 September 2021 the government announced a US$4·5bn contract for the construction of 660 km of ‘modern, safe, and integrated’ mixed traffic electrified railway connecting Ain Sokhna, on the Red Sea near Suez, with Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean via the New Administrative Capital and 6th October City. This is '''intended''' as the first phase of a planned 1 800 km railway development programme. | | On 28 May 2022 Siemens announced it had signed an €8.1bn contract to |
| | construct 2000 km of high-speed line and supply 41 Velaro high-speed trains, 94 Desiro regional trains and 41 Vectron freight locomotives. This includes €2.7bn agreed in September 2021 for the 660 km mixed traffic electrified railway connecting Ain Sokhna, on the Red Sea near Suez, with Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean via the New Administrative Capital and 6th October City. The second phase will comprise a 1100 km line from Cairo to Abu Simbel, near the Sudanese border. The third phase will comprise a 225 km line from Luxor to Hurghada, on the Red Sea, serving the key port of Safaga. The signalling will be based on ETCS Level 2. |
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| In March 2021 the World Bank approved a US$440m loan to support the Railway Improvement & Safety for Egypt (RISE) project, which has a total value of US$681·1m, with a US$241·1m contribution from ENR. It is a continuation of the ENR Restructuring Project concluded in 2020, which included the modernisation of signalling on the Alexandria – Cairo and Beni Suef – Nag Hammadi routes. RISE continues work on those routes, and renewal of track and signalling between Cairo and Beni Suef. Rail’s share of the passenger market is predicted to increase by 2029 from 8% to 15% and of the freight market from 6% to 10%. | | In March 2021 the World Bank approved a US$440m loan to support the Railway Improvement & Safety for Egypt (RISE) project, which has a total value of US$681·1m, with a US$241·1m contribution from ENR. It is a continuation of the ENR Restructuring Project concluded in 2020, which included the modernisation of signalling on the Alexandria – Cairo and Beni Suef – Nag Hammadi routes. RISE continues work on those routes, and renewal of track and signalling between Cairo and Beni Suef. Rail’s share of the passenger market is predicted to increase by 2029 from 8% to 15% and of the freight market from 6% to 10%. |
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| ==Special Notes== | | ==Special Notes== |
| Introduction: General comments and a focus on some of the more unusual sections based on travels around 2007 (with an update where available)
| | ===Egyptian railways=== |
| | ENR is the most complex and densely trafficked system in Africa, with about 3500Km of passenger lines. Services are generally quite frequent and run largely on a daily, almost unchanging basis. The bulk of the system lies in the Nile delta, bounded by Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said. The only other lengthy routes are along the Mediterranean coast to Mersa Matruh and up the Nile Valley to Aswan, some 900Km south of Cairo. |
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| | ===Cairo Termini=== |
| | Cairo’s main station is Ramses, which has some complications: services operating on the route to Etay el Barud (well north of Cairo) initially set off south over the Nile bridge but then veer off at Imbaba and run along the west bank of the western branch of the Nile. The two platforms are well out of sight, south of the overbridge, and accessed from the west side of Ramses. Cairo Furu’a terminus is very close to but separate from Ramses situated just to its north east, it is served by services to/from Minuf and most readily accessed by the subways part way down the platforms and walking up the side of the station; it enjoys a separate route from Shibra el Kheima about 5 km out most notably running around the carriage sidings away from Ramses. Opposite this and again close to Ramses is Limun station which was once apparently Italianate in style but now has a gloomy interior and an exterior like a bomb shelter. It takes traffic from Zaqazig and is accessed via a wholly different route from south of Shubra el-Kheima. It can theoretically be accessed via a gate at the top end of Ramses platform 1 but if they have locked this it’s a 5-10 minute walk around the block. |
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| ===Travelling around by rail=== | | ===Travelling around by rail=== |
| In general rail travel in Egypt is not particularly difficult, nor are there any sections of the network from which foreigners are banned, although plenty where they are not expected to travel. Outside the tourist areas, one may be regarded with deep suspicion, and certainly curiosity, being probably the only westerner they have seen. “Where you go” is the standard question if they know any English. However, reports from Egypt are sparse, and the situation may change.</br> | | In general rail travel in Egypt is not particularly difficult, nor are there any sections of the network from which foreigners are banned, although plenty where they are '''not''' expected to travel. Outside the tourist areas, one may be regarded with deep suspicion, and certainly curiosity, being probably the only westerner they have seen. “Where you go” is the standard question if they know any English. However, the police are clearly suspicious of anything different from normal tourism and often check up on people by claiming to "help" them.</br> |
| Consequently anybody intent on much of a trip (and certainly anywhere off the beaten track)should obtain the only available translation of the ENR timetable. This is based on the July 2004 timetable but, with some notable exceptions mentioned below, is still largely unchanged. Things have changed on some peripheral lines, as commented below. | | Consequently anybody intent on much of a trip (and certainly anywhere off the beaten track) should obtain the only available translation of the ENR timetable. This is based on the July 2004 timetable but, apart from some withdrawals, is still largely unchanged. |
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| ===Photography=== | | ===Photography=== |
| Photography is technically illegal, and subject to fines and confiscation, as all public utilities are considered military installations. The current security situation means that this position has certainly not been relaxed. | | Photography is technically illegal, and subject to fines and confiscation, as all public utilities are considered military installations. The current security situation means that this position has certainly not been relaxed. |
| However, a little common sense on where and when to take photos means there is usually no problem but one must be prepared for the occasional railway policeman or railway employee intervening. Conversely a correspondent was given cab rides and taken pictures quite openly, and even of train crew themselves at their insistence. | | However, a little common sense on where and when to take photos means there is usually no problem but one must be prepared for the occasional railway policeman or railway employee intervening. Conversely a correspondent was given cab rides and taken pictures quite openly, and even of train crew themselves at their insistence. |
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| To put ENR into context, it is certainly the most complex and densely trafficked system in Africa; services are generally quite frequent depending on context and run with the exceptions below on a daily almost unchanging basis; similarly trafficked systems in north Africa are all much smaller while the larger systems like South African Railways have typically only 1 train a day on a few principle routes. All of ENR is standard gauge , its passenger routes amount to about 3500Km; the only other significant passenger operations are trams and metro in Cairo (Sketchy reports indicate a lot of damage to Cairo tramway infrastructure during the assorted riots punctuating transition from one administration to another with trams burnt out and wires torn down and stolen, also the Helwan tramway system, south of Cairo, has been reported as out of operation due to dewirements but whether this persists is unknown) and trams in Alexandria. The bulk of the system lies in the delta roughly bounded by Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said; beyond these rough bounds are routes along the northern coast to Mersa Matruh and up the Nile Valley all the way to High Dam south of Aswan some 900Km south of Cairo.
| | [[Category:Non-European Countries]] |
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| To focus on a few more interesting sections; taken roughly north to south.
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| Ishmailiya to Bir el Abd; perhaps the most bizarre service in Egypt is the daily “Sinai Peace train” (NOTE! This service from a brief correspondence through Flikr with an Egyptian who had been looking and commenting on the associated photos has ceased to run probably around 2011 (guesstimate) which is hardly surprising as it was completely pointless and the security situation in Sinai is now very poor, in fact for westerners downright lethal!) that runs from Ishmailiya on the main Cairo-Port Said route, the train is formed of two typically clapped out 3rd class coaches sandwiched top and tail fashion between a couple of GMs and runs from a platform so far behind the main station it is not even formally linked by subway. All attempts to establish when or if this train runs were met with denials and it was only by loitering and awaiting “events” before the timetabled 09.30 departure it became clear this odd formation was indeed the train! The locals were astonished anyone let alone a westerner wanted to travel on it especially as it turned out not even to go where thought or indicated in the contemporary timetable. The train veers off the Port Said line just 13km north at Ferdan and turns away quickly towards the $110m fully retractable bridge over the Suez canal, it was possible to watch the two opposing sections swinging over a period of about 20 minutes across the canal to eventually open the way to northern Sinai. It became apparent that your correspondent was the only passenger possibly in months!?, there were 3 crew on the loco and a party of about 10 sand shovellers….more anon…….and an ENR engineer doing the rounds. Dismounting briefly to confront the “border officials” before crossing the bridge to show passport and relate as best one could intended movements, the official seemed really only interested if going to, had visited before, or indeed had any inkling that the Sinai bound traveller wanting to visit Israel, and as it was responded “no, no and er…no” and he could not find a trace of an Israeli stamp in the passport yours was apparently free to look at the sand of Sinai!! The line was opened just under 100km from Ferdan to Bir el Abt by Mubarak himself in 2001 and was the notional first stage in restoring the original route across Sinai to Haifa and then gain access to the whole west Asian system. However events have not worked out, (then and of course gone positively backwards since!) as the route runs through Gaza and the political situation has made advancing the project or even diverting it untenable, so now it has in fact retrenched back to a total middle of nowhere spot called Rumella, 63Km out from Ferdan. Once away from the canal the crew relaxed and provided a cab ride, they said the line beyond Rumella was out of use now possibly for two years (2005) and after a trundle through empty desert stopping to occasionally clear sand (and take photos!) and passing though a couple of totally isolated intermediate stations we arrived in Rumella, beyond which the track looked collapsed and even weedy, the train returned to Quantara East almost immediately where the crew left the train, the timetable has two return trips shown between here and Bir el Abt (in reality Rumella) but the utter futility of running these is too much even for them as Quantara East is itself 5km from the canal with nothing but scorching desert between. The train cannot return until nearly midnight as the bridge only opens for rail traffic twice a day and shipping is naturally the priority, so the whole exercise occupies a crew of 15? two locos and a couple of coaches every day to no purpose whatsoever! Your rail based Sinai tourist escaped on the bus the staff whistled up from Quantara East and crossed the canal on the free ferry which happily docks just below Quantara West station from whence the train to Cairo just happened to be leaving 10 minutes later!
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| Cairo termini; Cairo’s main terminus and indeed through station is Ramses, this would become familiar almost immediately to any traveller in Egypt but there are some complications, services operating on the route to Etay el Barud well north of Cairo initially set off south and sharing the Nile bridge then veer off at Imbaba and run along the west bank of the western branch of the Nile. The two platforms are well out of sight accessed from the west side of Ramses and are positioned south of the over bridge and it’s quite possible not to find your train and miss it if you don’t find these platforms exist! Cairo Furu’a terminus is very close to but separate from Ramses situated just to its north east, it is served by services to/from Minuf and most readily accessed by the subways part way down the platforms and walking up the side of the station; it enjoys a separate route from Shibra el Kheima about 5 km out most notably running around the carriage sidings away from Ramses. Opposite this and again close to Ramses is Limun station which was once apparently Italianate in style but now has a gloomy interior and an exterior like a bomb shelter. It takes traffic from Zaqazig and is accessed via a wholly different route from south of Shubra el-Kheima. It can theoretically be accessed via a gate at the top end of Ramsess platform 1 but if they have locked this it’s a 5-10 minute walk around the block.
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| South of Cairo the 2004 timetable had trains serving a very obscure branch off the main Luxor route to 6th October once a day and from Beni Suef to Lahun twice a day (once Fridays) however both attempts to find these trains and enquiries locally and back in Cairo all seem to indicate that services on these routes have ceased. (Notably in 2020 a new High Speed project mentioned this as a traffic node on its projected north south route)
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| Aswan to Aswan High Dam is the very southern end of ENR, but it terminates in two separate places; a handful of longer distant trains, some associated with boats to the Sudan (Wadi Halfa) run to the marbled floor extensive terminus at El-Sadd-el-Aali nominally 896.9km from Cairo, however many more trains operating the local service as far as Aswan as they head south veer right as they approach the northern periphery of this station and call at a rather anonymous halt where the service nominally ends. However it was clear by “local watching” this was not the ultimate destination and indeed the train drew forward about 500m to a run round loop, so all trains have to venture here. Here, is nowhere in particular but has a much larger traffic base than the official terminus and the locals bailed off straight to the ballast and similarly scaled up the sides without the aid of a platform while the locomotive ran around with no concern as to their comings and goings, although a westerner on the ballast taking photos attracted a long stare.... but nothing more. This spur undoubtedly supplied materials during construction of the Aswan High Dam under Soviet sponsorship 1960-70, the whole area previously being criss-crossed by narrow gauge construction railways. This dam eventually lead to the creation of Lake Nasser which covering over 2000 sq. miles is arguably the largest man made body of water in the world stretching over 300 miles to the Sudan.
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