Two measures regarded as a must to develop Egypt’s railways

CAIRO – 13 August 2017: The train accident that occurred on Friday August 11 incurring 36 deaths and over 100 injuries had made the need for developing railways in Egypt a fundamental necessity that cannot be further postponed, triggering experts and parliamentarians to propose solutions for preventing frequent accidents.

These solutions consist mainly of expanding the mechanization of railways, and hiring private companies to manage railways.

Parliamentarian Hussein Khater, member of transport committee at the Parliament, told Egypt Today on Sunday that the debts of the Railway Authority reached LE 40 billion ($2.2 billion) stressing that railways should be a major source of income rather than a burden on the state’s budget.

Khater stated that mechanization of signals, railroads, and switches is a must, which was already introduced into the metro. Currently, railways in Egypt are operated manually by workers, which is the main cause for the high frequency of accidents.
The parliamentarian declared that the mechanization project was proposed multiple times during meetings with committee, but it has not been implemented yet because of the lack of resources.

Khater said that the authority can issue bonds, and allow the private sector to contribute in operating certain trains to achieve development in the railways sector.

On the other hand, Khater accused “first line managers” of hindering the development process of the Railway Authority in order to preserve their jobs labeling them as “mafia.”
Emad Nabil, roads and airports expert, told Egypt Today that the authority’s annual losses are estimated to be LE 2-3 billion which are incurred because of the weakness of the fees collection system, the low price of tickets, and the deteriorating conditions of the trains.

The state has been subsidizing the ticket prices, except for those of the first class, and VIP trains.

Nabil affirmed that mechanization would be the solution to prevent accidents, and that depending on the manual operation of railways must be abolished. He also expressed his support for the idea of hiring a private company to manage the Railway Authority.
“The error percentage would be 0.1 percent, if there is no driver;” Nabil said adding that “only 15 percent of railroads are mechanized.”

Transport Minister Hisham Arafat told press on Saturday that the development of railways in Egypt should have taken place 45 years ago, but it started only three years ago. One of the lines developed is Banha/Alexandria line.

The minister also stressed on the role of the private sector in developing railways in Egypt, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The Deputy Head of the Transport Committee at the Parliament Mohamed Zain al-Din told press that there was no tangible development achieved yet, although the committee requested it two years ago.

Zain al-Din said there are frequent weekly accidents such as fires erupting on trains, and the derailing of others, stressing that there would be a follow-up with the administrative, technical, and financial affairs of railways in order to come up with a development plan fast.