Railway Networks

Egypt has the world’s second oldest railway networks in the world and the oldest in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The railway network has expanded from 8. 600 km in 1989 to 9. 432 km in 2003 to connect 75% of the cities, towns and villages throughout the country.

The main recent developments in that sector include the twin – track Upper Egypt line from Assiut to Aswan, some 505 km long.

The network carries some 800 million passengers per year or around 2-3 million passengers each day, in addition to some 12 millions tones of goods annually.

A new computerized reservation system for air-conditioned trains has been introduced at the main stations, by the end of 2004, it is projected that the number of stations servicing the country will double from the current number of 16 to a total of 32 stations.

Studies are currently being undertaken for the connecting of Egypt and Sudan through railways. This way, Egypt will be connected from the north to the south of Africa by an extended system of land and railway transportation.