Suez Canal on rails will cut travel time almost in half
The Egyptian government has signed a contract that will put the Suez Canal on rails. The agreement involves the construction of a high-speed electric railway line that will connect the coasts of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
The project, Suez Canal on Rails, is overseen by the state’s Authority for Tunnels. The organization has signed a contract for 15 years, which includes the design and construction of the railway connection and maintenance of the network, which will include several such electric highways. Several companies, including Arab Contractors, Siemens Mobility and Orascom Construction, were chosen as contractors for the work. The amount of investment in the project is estimated at 4.34 billion dollars.
The length of the railroad will be 660 kilometers, it will consist of a main line that will be able to serve more than 30 million passengers annually. Additional railway is intended for the carriage of goods. Communication is planned between the port of Ain Sokhna, located on the shores of the Red Sea, as well as two ports located in the Mediterranean Sea – Alexandria and Marsa-Matrouh.
Siemens representatives point out that the new electric railway connection will reduce the time of overcoming this route by almost two times. According to official information, Siemens will provide trains for the project by 2023, and the work to fully equip the necessary equipment will last until 2027.
In addition to the Suez Canal on rails, the Egyptian government is discussing the implementation of several other high-speed lines. One of them will connect Cairo and Aswan, which is located in the south of the country. Another railroad will connect Luxor, Hurghada and Safaga. The total length of the new network will be about 1825 km.
It should be noted that Egypt has a fairly wide network of railroads. However, as a result of critical lack of funding, it is significantly worn out, resulting in frequent accidents. In the last few years, the country’s government has started to pay more attention to the development of the rail infrastructure. The transportation strategy includes modernizing and expanding the railway network, as well as expanding the Suez Canal to improve ship trafficability and avoid accidents.
The railway industry is building up its potential not only in Egypt, but other countries are also paying attention to the development of this area. And the network is being improved not only for freight traffic, but also for passenger traffic. A striking example is the new highway in the Baltic states. This year it is also planned to put into operation the network, which connects the transport terminal between Hungary and Ukraine. This standard gauge mainline allows for the transportation of cargo in large volumes without downtime and long controls.
