Egypt Railways Urgently Need LE41 Billion

Egyptians know how to build infrastructure, however finding the funds to maintain said infrastructure is often a nightmare. Aware of this problem is Hany Dahy, Minister of Transportation, who on Saturday announced that Egypt’s ageing railway urgently needs LE41 billion to develop 700 outdated carriages and 21 tractor units.

The decrepit railway continues to deteriorate causing an increase in fatalities with each passing year. Fatalities from train accidents reached 781 in 2013, almost a 74 percent increase from 2012, which saw 447 train-related deaths, revealed a report published this year by the state-run statistics agency CAPMAS.

Hoping to curb the rising number of fatalities, Dahy has indicated that they are expecting 212 air condition carriages to be delivered soon, and that negations are underway to secure 700 new ordinary carriages from Hungarian, Chinese and Spanish companies. Despite making grand promises, the minister is yet to specify where the source of funding will be obtained to secure these upgrades, only suggesting that the transport ministry will be raising ticket prices for air conditioned passenger trains in January.

The stress of urgency is likely associated to the fact that railway system is currently unsustainable. In 2013, Egypt’s Railway Authority saw its revenues drop 34% compared to 2012. One of the likely factors attributing to the drop in revenue is the rise in terrorist activities. On Saturday, a bomb exploded near a train station in Southern Egypt, and three other devices were planted along the railway tracks. Despite the increase in attacks, the majority of fatalities associated with the railways are attributed to accidents as a result of a lack of maintenance, making the need to upgrade an urgent matter.