Egypt's Bashtil Train Station completed, ready to enter service: source

CAIRO – 9 October 2023: Source at the Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) told Masrawy Sunday that the Upper Egypt Train Station in Bashtil had been finished by 100 percent and that was ready for inauguration during October 2023.

The source elaborated that screens and ticket vending machines had been installed, ticket selling offices had been equipped, and the finishing of the head house had been over.

A report by the Ministry of Transport released in July highlighted that Bashtil Train Station had a daily capacity of 250,000 passengers.

The station consists of a built-up area of 112,000 square meters, and train tracks extending on 166,000 square meters. The surface area of the main building is 31,000 square meters. 

The project also comprises shopping malls that span over 42,000 square meters, and provides 3,500 direct and indirect job opportunities. 

Minister of Transport Kamel al-Wazir stated in a phone-in on July 9 that the "Egyptian Railway Station" located in Giza's Bashtil would be inaugurated in a month and a half.

The minister noted that the station spans over 57 feddans (one feddan equals 4,500 square meters), while the one in Cairo's Ramses Street lies on just 13 feddans. As for the services it has, there are an underground parking, multistorey car park, and shopping mall.

The chairman of the Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA) told press in 2020 that Bashtil Train Station was planned to serve citizens moving to and from Upper Egyptian governorates. He added that the goal of its establishing was alleviating the load on Ramses Train Station. 

The LE350-million station comprises five tracks and platforms, in addition to a complex of workshops that would carry out the maintenance of railcars and train engines.