Egypt hires US company to modernise locomotives

Egyptian National Railways has awarded three contracts worth more than $235 million to US company Progress Rail to modernise its rail locomotive fleet.

The contracts include the modernisation of 1,000 diesel-electric locomotives valued at $185 million and a 15-year agreement to supply parts for 141 locomotives worth $42 million, the US Embassy in Egypt said in a statement.

A third deal includes a five-year technical assistance services contract for 141 diesel-electric locomotives valued at $5 million, with an option to extend for an additional five years. 

The Egyptian railway network is one of the oldest in the world but has been plagued by lethal accidents due to poor maintenance, under-investment and overcrowding.

• IPOs planned for five Egyptian companies owned by military
• Egypt and Spain sign Cairo metro extension study
• Egypt partners with IFC for airport privatisation

Last year, British Steel of the UK won a multi-million dollar contract to supply track for a 660km passenger and freight 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.

In 2023, a consortium of Egypt’s Orascom Construction and Paris-based Thales Group signed a $323 million contract with Egyptian National Railways to modernise 115 km of double track linking Cairo with Giza and Beni Suef.