Egyptian Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir on Sunday announced the arrival of a new batch of railway passenger coaches, with a total of 15 air-conditioned third-class coaches coming from Hungary, to Alexandria Port.
This batch brings the total of what has been shipped since the beginning of the signing of the deal with the Russian-Hungarian coalition Transmashholding to 785 vehicles (499 dynamic ventilation coaches – 286 third-class air-conditioned coaches).
The rest of the coaches will arrive in batches according to the scheduled timetable.
The minister said that the deal is one of the fruits of the huge contracts that took place according to the directives of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to develop the railway sector and support it with modern mobile units.
This deal contributes to raising the efficiency of daily operation and the regularity of operating schedules, he noted, as the new coaches that arrive are entered into service according to the daily operating schedule of the railway.
The deal comes as part of an agreement concluded between the Transport Ministry, represented by the Egyptian National Railways, and the Hungarian “Ganz-Mavag” company to manufacture and supply the rest of the remaining coaches out of the total deal of 1,300 new railway coaches.
The Hungarian company will supply 50 new buffet coaches that will operate on air-conditioned third-class Russian trains, bringing the total coaches to 1350 – the largest deal in the history of the authority.
Source: Egypt Independent