Egyptian State Railways

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The logo of the Egyptian State Railways
Egypt rail network (1435 mm tracks)

The Egyptian State Railways ( English Egyptian National Railways , ENR ; Arabic سكك حديد مصر, DMG sikak ḥadīd Miṣr ) are the state railways of Egypt . They are operated by the Egyptian parastatal railway authority.

history

North British Locomotive Company steam locomotive 694 , Scotland, 1906
Sleeping car of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits for the opening of the Luxor - Aswan connection , 1926

As early as 1833, Muhammad Ali Pascha and Thomas Gallway were considering building a railway to facilitate transit between Europe and India . The rails had already been bought when the project was stopped after French pressure, as France was not interested in a project competing with the Suez Canal .

After Muhammad Ali's death, Abbas I signed a contract with Robert Stephenson to connect Alexandria and Cairo by rail. The first part of this line between Alexandria and Kafr az-Zayyat was opened in 1854, the entire line two years later. It was the first rail line in Africa and the Middle East .

Ismail Pasha , who came to the throne in 1863, initiated the construction of the railway from Cairo to Asyut , which was later extended to Aswan . In 1891 the Imbaba Bridge over the Nile near Cairo was completed. This was an important step in connecting Lower and Upper Egypt. The current Imbaba Bridge dates from 1924. It is the only railway bridge over the Nile in the Cairo area.

Until the founding of Israel , the rail networks of Egypt and the British Mandate Palestine were connected by the Sinai Railway . Between 1942 and 1948 there was a standard gauge network connection to Lebanon via the Palestine Railways and the Haifa – Beirut – Tripoli line, as well as via Syria ( Baghdad Railway ) and Turkey to Istanbul . However, there was never continuous rail traffic. A connection to the Israeli rail network and the European one has not existed since the Palestinian war .

The El Ferdan Bridge over the Suez Canal, rebuilt in 2001, is the world's largest swing bridge . After the new Suez Canal was opened a little east of the bridge in 2014/2015 and there is no bridge there, the railway over the El Ferdan Bridge has been shut down, the bridge is permanently open to shipping.

business

Rail network

In 2005, ENR operated a total of 5,063 km of rail lines in European standard gauge . Most of the network connects the densely populated area of ​​the Nile Delta with the centers of Cairo and Alexandria. Another main route runs from Cairo on the left bank of the Nile to Nag Hammadi and from there on on the right bank of the Nile to Aswan in Upper Egypt . The end of the route is Sadd el Ali (High Dam).

There is also a railway line along the Mediterranean coast to the west towards the Libyan border (to Sallum ). During the Second World War it led into Libya. After the new construction of the Libyan sections along the Mediterranean coast, connections to Tripoli , Tunis and the Maghreb should be possible from 2015 . The civil war in Libya made these plans obsolete.

A high-speed line is expected to connect Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor and Aswan by 2025 . The cost of the project is estimated at 10 billion euros.

There is a lot of catching up to do when it comes to maintaining the railway infrastructure .

organization

The ENR is divided into three business areas: long-distance passenger transport, local passenger transport and freight transport.

passenger traffic

The Egyptian State Railways represent the backbone of passenger transport in Egypt and transport around 800 million passengers annually. Air-conditioned trains usually offer first and second class. Second and third class are common on trains that are not air-conditioned. The fares on commuter trains and in third class are subsidized by the state as a social benefit .

The Alexandria – Cairo – Luxor – Aswan connection is operated daily with air-conditioned sleeper trains under the Abela brand. These trains are specially designed for tourists . A comfortable express train also connects the Ramses train station in Cairo with Marsa Matruh (near the Libyan border).

The ENR also operates bus routes and ferry connections , u. a. to Abu Simbel (bus / ferry), to Sharm El-Sheikh , to the Siwa oasis and to Hurghada .

Freight transport

The freight volume transported by ENR is around four to five million tonnes per year. The sector employs around 2,000 people, has 270 locomotives (90 of which are operational) and 5,400 operational freight cars . It is planned to privatize this business area in several stages .

Traction

EMD JT42CWR of the ENR

Diesel locomotives are mostly used. Only 63 km of the rail network are electrified , the S-Bahn lines Cairo - Helwan and Cairo - Heliopolis .

Accidents

In 2016, 1,249 rail accidents were recorded. The worst rail accidents in Egypt in the last two decades were:

Railway Museum

The Egyptian Railway Museum was founded in 1933 and documents the history and development of the ENR. It is housed in an extension of the Cairo Central Station .

Big train stations

Many lines leave from Ramses Station ( Cairo ) or Misr Station ( Alexandria ).

See also

literature

Web links

References

  1. ↑ International designation on the UIC website ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ NN: Egypt . In: HaRakevet 116 (March 2017). ISSN  0964-8763 , p. 11.
  3. ↑ Fatma Lotfi: Deadly crash sparks calls for railway reform in Egypt ( Memento from December 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). In: Al-Monitor of August 24, 2017. Reproduced in: HaRakevet 119 (2017), p. 16f.
  4. ^ NN: ENR plans independent freight business . In: HaRakevet 118 (September 2017). ISSN  0964-8763 , p. 15.
  5. ^ NN: 41 Killed, 179 Injured in Egypt's Alexandria Train Collision . In: Egyptian Streets, August 12, 2017, accessed August 12, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b c tagesschau.de: Many dead after the fire at Cairo Central Station. Retrieved February 27, 2019 .