Egypt to tender for 207 railway cars next month

Egypt, where there have been fatal rail accidents, will issue a tender mid-September to supply its network with 207 new train carriages worth 517.5 million Egyptian pounds ($90.72 million), the head of the Railway Authority said on Friday.

The tender plan aims to upgrade the Arab world's most populous country's train service by ordering modern air-conditioned carriages to accomodate 80 passengers each.

"The Railway Authority will invite bids by mid-September to supply 207 train carriages" Mohamed Hegazy, spokesman of the Railway Authority told Reuters. He added "the bid will be open to national and international companies manufacturing carriages"

Higazy did not give the total value for the deal but said the value for each carriage was approximately 2.5 million Egyptian pounds ($438,300) per train carriage, suggesting a total value for the project of $90.72 million.

A series of rail accidents in recent years triggered an outcry over the government's handling of transport safety.

The lastest accident killing 18 passengers in October prompted the resignation of former Transportation Minister Mohamed Mansour.

The 207 carriages, which would revamp railway lines linking Cairo-Alexandria and Cairo/Alexandria-Aswan, are the first batch of a project to purchase 400 new vehicles over three years, Higazy said.

The railway system is often heavily overcrowded particularly in the holiday season.

There were several other transport projects going on in Egypt including plans to build a third line for the metro service in Cairo and arrange a project to improve road transport.

In June, the transport ministry was considering offering a project to extend Cairo's underground metro to suburbs without metro service. Cairo now has two metro lines across the capital.
 

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