December 2023

While politics and elections has been the focus of most news coming out of Egypt in recent months, things other than politics do occur.

Despite some delays in urban areas resulting from the 2022 Revolution and the protests that accompanied it, work on Egypt's first high speed rail network, the contract for which was signed in January 2021, has continued more or less on schedule. Accordingly, the first line of the new system, a 3b USD, ~375km connection between the Mediterranean sea port of El Alamein and the Red Sea port of Ain Sokhna by way of Cairo, finished construction on 23 December 2023. Capable of reaching speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour, the high speed rail line, which can carry both freight and passengers, is expected to significantly cut travel and shipping times within in Egypt, while also serving as an alternative to the Suez Canal (the rail linkage is faster than shipping the freight). The system uses Chinese rolling stock, built under technology transfer in Port Said.

With the system's first line completed, the construction consortium is now moving ahead with the construction of the rest of the network, outlined below.