Egypt transport minister tours Sokhna–New Capital rail stretch ahead of trial run

Egypt transport minister tours Sokhna–New Capital rail stretch ahead of trial run

Ahram Online , Sunday 30 Aug 2026

Egypt's Transport Minister Kamel Al-Wazir toured the Ain Sokhna-to-New Capital stretch of the country's first high-speed electric rail line ahead of a passenger-free trial run planned for one section, a Ministry of Transport statement said on Sunday.

Photo courtesy of Egypt's cabinet

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During the tour, Al-Wazir inspected the work on finishing stations. He also inspected a new maintenance depot and rail bridges along the 660-kilometre Sokhna-Alamein-Marsa Matrouh line.

Egypt prepares to launch six months of trial operations on the line in September, following a limited test run in November 2025.

The transport minister was accompanied by National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) Chairman Tarek Gewaily, who also serves as a consultant for the project.

He began the tour with a follow-up on the roughly 6-kilometre spur linking Sokhna station to Ain Sokhna Port, which is designed to move freight to and from the port once trains begin running.

At Sokhna and New Capital central stations, the minister reviewed finishing works, the layout guiding passengers from entrances to ticket halls and platforms, and plans for the commercial and administrative use of station space.

He stressed the need to complete the approach roads serving each station from all directions to ease passengers' access.

Following the station tour, Al-Wazir ordered that the two young engineers managing the Sokhna and New Capital stations be rewarded with training missions abroad and the option to pursue master's degrees overseas. He described them as "a wonderful example for all Egyptian engineers working around the clock to serve our precious Egypt."

Near the central station, the minister inspected a roughly 259,000-square-metre maintenance point and the line's main workshop, built on 578 feddans, designed to operate all three planned high-speed lines, carry out major and minor train overhauls, and store up to 50 trains and locomotives.

Sections of the line have been handed to a consortium that includes Siemens Mobility, Orascom Construction, and Arab Contractors. The consortium will be responsible for laying ballast, installing rails and the catenary poles for the overhead power network, and completing electromechanical and signalling works.

Al-Wazir also toured completed bridges along the route, including the Wadi Hagul, 30 June, and New Quarries bridges, as well as the bridge carrying the line over the Autostrad road. He also followed up on unfinished bridge works east and west of the Nile.

Moreover, the transport minister singled out the Al-Khor Bridge, a 600-metre span rising 90 metres and 14 metres wide over the Wadi Dijla valley, as one of the project's signature engineering feats, built entirely by Egyptian workers and engineers.

Ministry officials said the line's stations were designed to share services with nearby airports. They added that the network integrates with Egypt's other mass-transit lines: the electric light rail transit at the New Capital station, the Cairo-Aswan railway at Giza station, the West Nile monorail at 6th of October station, and the second high-speed line at October Gardens station, part of the wider Sokhna-Alexandria logistics corridor.

The transport ministry has increased the amount of local components in the project's supply chain, Al-Wazir noted. He explained that several previously imported components for trains and control systems are increasingly being produced domestically through Egyptian and joint-venture factories.

Egypt's high-speed electric rail network is planned to comprise four lines spanning 2,250 kilometres. The first three lines, totalling 2,000 kilometres, are under construction. The first line extends for 660 kilometres and includes 21 stations and a control centre. The line is expected to run 15 high-speed trains, 34 regional trains, and 14 freight locomotives, according to the ministry.

Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany's Siemens in January 2021 to build the high-speed electric rail network. Before that contract, the country signed another contract worth $4.5 billion in 2021 with the Siemens Mobility-led consortium to build what was then described as the world's sixth-longest high-speed rail system.

NAT conducted a limited driverless test run on the line in November 2025 before signing a 15-year operations contract to manage and operate the line, extendable by another 15 years, with Deutsche Bahn International Operations and Elsewedy Electric.

During a review of major transport projects in July, transport ministry officials told President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi that six-month trial operations on the line are due to begin in September without passengers ahead of the line's eventual commercial launch.