Seven stations across three major Egyptian railway lines receive signalling upgrades

Credit: Thales

Thales has commissioned signalling works for a total of seven new stations across the three major railway lines in Egypt over the last six months. Upgrades at the Sandanhour, Toukh and Qaha stations on the Cairo-Benha line; Geziret and El Maragha stations on the Asyut-Nagahamadi line; and Kafr el Dawar and Damanhour stations on the Cario-Alexandria line have all been completed.

As part of the Egyptian National Railways (ENR) Signalling Modernisation project, the existing mechanical signalling systems are being replaced with Thales’ Electronic Interlocking System (EIS) across three of the ENR’s most prominent lines; the 159km long Cairo-Alexandria, 48km long Cairo-Benha and 180km long Asyut-Nagahamadi. The signalling modernisation will increase train safety and speed by creating a more efficient railway system.  

The Cairo-Alexandria railway line, which serves 25 million passengers a year, is the busiest in the network and is on track to be fully upgraded, with 90 per cent of the necessary works already completed. The ENR has commenced commercial operations on the seven stations that have been completed across the Cairo-Alexandria corridor, with a new and improved signalling system on 107km of track. The commissioning of the new section of Damanhour on the 20 August 2020 added 37km of the line into service and is considered as the largest milestone in all of ENR’s projects.

In addition, the project entails new level crossings, an upgrade of the telecommunications systems and new technical buildings for ENR. This includes the implementation of a centralised control centre, which will allow ENR to monitor and supervise train operation for the whole lines.

Country Director of Thales Egypt, Sherif Barakat, said: “The ENR modernisation project is key to supporting the ever-evolving infrastructure and growing population in Egypt. The goal is to deliver a robust and safe signalling system to transport passengers within and between cities, faster and safer. Despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic, we have made significant progress and are moving at a strong pace with ENR to finalise the project in line with the agreed timeline.”