45bn Egyptian Pounds Needed to Make Railways Safe

Egypt needs to invest 45 bn Egyptian Pounds to make its railway safe according to Mohamed Sadek Sherbini, Chairman of the Transport Committee of the upper house of the Egyptian parliament, the Shura Council.

He said human intervention must be minimised by expanding automatic control across the network in order to address improvements in passenger safety, which would cost 15 bn Egyptian Pounds, and a further 30 bn Egyptian Pounds was necessary to renew and upgrade existing infrastructure and rolling stock.

Sherbini was talking in the wake of the horrific derailment of a train near Assiut after midnight on Tuesday morning which killed 19 army conscripts and injured over 100 others. This is the fifth rail accident since President Mohammed Morsi took power in June 2012.

The Transport Committee has met in emergency session to discuss what needs to be done to address the appalling record of the rail system in Egypt, said Mohamed Sherbini and another meeting would take place on Thursday. He confirmed that meetings had taken place with representatives of the rail industry to share their needs to solve priority problems on the railway.