The daily Al-Masry Al-Youm comments: “A series of road, rail and sea accidents in Egypt in recent years have triggered an outcry over the government’s handling of transport safety and prompted calls for increased spending on improving infrastructure. Traffic is often gridlocked in the capital of the Arab world’s most populous nation. Economists say a better network of roads and public transport is essential to encouraging growth and productivity.

The transport ministry, the paper says, is considering a project to extend Cairo’s underground metro to suburbs not now on the network. Cairo currently has two metro lines.

Freight infrastructure, it is pointed out, is the key to economic growth in Egypt, which is among the most developed economies in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. In the three years prior to the global recession, the country averaged growth in gross domestic product (GDP) of around 7%.

The report recommends that Egypt examine the potential advantages of freight transport by rail – in preference to road – in terms of reliability, safety and profitability. Rail usage for freight is much lower than in developed markets such as the US and Europe and also developing countries such as China and India. The passenger segment however accounts for close to 90% of traffic. [ Some 62km of Egypt’s 5,085km of 1,435mm gauge track are electrified at 1,500kV DC, - editor]

To tackle the relatively poor contribution of rail to freight conveyance, the report suggests that new business models adopted successfully in other countries such as India should be reviewed. In this way, the operation of specific freight corridors and services could be privatised, with the government retaining overall ownership and receiving sizeable new revenues.

The report concedes that government is currently implementing plans to enhance rail transport, with some focus on freight. Foreign and private sector involvement is also increasing. For example, APL launched a coordinated container rail freight service between Sokhna and Alexandria in 2009 in partnership with ENR.

“Rail freight services of this kind provide importers and exporters with increased supply chain reliability and control. They will help international companies grow their business in Egypt, while helping take the country’s products to potentially lucrative international markets,” managing director of APL Egypt LLC Ted Muttiah says.

Geographically, Egypt is a gateway between the world’s major markets. It also controls the Suez Canal and “thousands of kilometres” of the River Nile.

[ According to the consultants’ report, the country’s rail network, government-owned and operated by Egyptian National Railways (ENR), “is the oldest in the world after Great Britain”. It isn’t, not by a long chalk. – editor

E&M equipment for the four stations is to be designed and supplied by Alstom and SEP Colas. Alstom will supply Urbalis 200 train control, points machines and signalling equipment. Line 3, with 29 stations, running 33km from the airport to Imbaba, is projected to carry 5 million passengers per day by 2020.

“The recommendations supported by the grant are part of a larger U S effort to help improve rail safety in Egypt by optimising the safe movement of trains,” U S Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey was quoted saying. “This effort will not only make Egypt’s rail sector more competitive, but holds the potential to save lives through the reduction of accidents.”

The introduction of PTC in Egypt builds on the findings of a USTDA-funded study completed earlier this year for the ministry of transport. The study included the design of a national traffic management master plan and recommendations on the creation of an independent railway safety oversight and enforcement authority to monitor compliance with safe operating practices.

The opportunity to provide technical assistance to the ministry of transport pursuant to the USTDA grant will be competed on the Federal Business Opportunities website, which is accessible through the USTDA’s website. The ministry of transport will select the U S firm that will provide the USTDA-funded assistance.