Egypt chooses British Steel for Green Line rail track

CC BY 2.0/Argenberg

• 9,500 tonnes of track to be delivered
• Egypt’s first fully-electrified mainline
• Vital passenger and freight network

British Steel, the UK steel products producer, has secured a multi-million-pound deal to supply parts for a new rail route stretching across Egypt.

In total 9,500 tonnes of track will be delivered for Egypt’s Green Line, its first fully electrified mainline and freight network from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

The exact value of the contract was not revealed.

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The network is 660 km long and will pass through six governorates, carrying both passengers and goods at a speed of a maximum 250 km per hour.

The rail will be transported in two tranches from the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe, England, to the north Egyptian port of Alexandria this month and in June, British Steel said.

It will be used to extend the line from Alexandria via El Alamein to the Mediterranean coast in the north-west and eastwards to the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea.

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The project is being managed by Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors Joint Venture with the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of the line handled by Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels.

The Green Line will serve as the blueprint for the Red and Blue lines, to be added in phase two of the project, which will take the total length of the network up to 15,000 km by 2030.

Egypt’s ageing rail network has been blighted by accidents caused by negligence and lack of maintenance. In 2021, dozens were killed and several hundred were injured in at least three crashes.

With more than 8,000 km of track, the railway is nonetheless the backbone of Egypt’s transportation strategy, carrying almost 314 million passengers a year.

The electrified track will help with Egypt’s ambitions to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.