Giza mega station opening drives Egypt’s rail investments

State Information Service

• President Sisi opens Upper Egypt station
• First passenger train on Sunday
• $41bn invested to upgrade railways

The first passenger train arrived on Sunday at the new Upper Egypt Railway Station in Bashteel, Giza, as the country invests in developing its ageing rail network.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi opened the station on Saturday along with 19 other transport infrastructure projects across the country. 

The new station is designed to serve passenger trains to Upper Egypt and alleviate pressure on Cairo’s central Ramses Railway Station, which the authorities say has become overburdened with passenger traffic.

The four-storey station is four-times larger than Ramses, according to transport minister and deputy prime minister Kamel Wazir. 

It has 11 platforms and can serve 250,000 passengers a day, with connections to Alexandria and Upper Egypt. There is also a shopping centre, a mosque with capacity for 500 worshippers, and spaces for 55 buses and microbuses.

The station was built by Hassan Allam Holding Company, which also has a concession to build the fourth line of the Cairo Metro that will link to 6th of October City.

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In a speech, President Sisi said that the state has invested around EGP 2 trillion ($41 billion) developing and upgrading his country’s distressed and inefficient railway network.

A high number of fatal accidents have blighted the network in recent years including a 2019 crash at Ramses Station which killed 25 people and a collision in 2022 that killed 32.

Despite the number of serious incidents dropping by almost 80 percent between 2022 and 2023, 694 people were killed in train accidents last year alone. 

The most recent accident occurred on Sunday, when two people were killed and 20 injured in a collision in Upper Egypt. Speaking that day, Wazir said that those responsible for the accident would face “exemplary punishment”.

Along with the new station, President Sisi inaugurated 19 other transport infrastructure projects on Saturday including constructing six pedestrian bridges above level crossings and three vehicle overpasses.

He also announced the completion of rehabilitation projects for major railway lines, new development projects for signalling systems in Upper Egypt, the third phase of the long-awaited Cairo Metro Line 3 and various roads and bridges.

Egypt’s General Authority for Investment has repeatedly touted the current administration’s big spending on transport infrastructure to attract new foreign investment into the country.