French train manufacturer wins $1bn contract to upgrade Cairo metro line

The French train manufacturer Alstom has secured a $1 billion contract to upgrade Cairo’s oldest metro line.

Cairo Metro line 1 carries passengers between El Marg and Helwan on the eastern side of the River Nile.

The project to install new metro trains is financed by the French government following an agreement signed over the summer by the French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire and Egypt’s Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir which would see Paris investing $4.6 billion in Egypt’s public transport and renewable energy sectors.

Alstom is also developing two monorail lines, a 54-kilometre line which will run from the New Administrative Capital to East Cairo and a 42-kilometre line from 6th October City to Giza.

In August 2019 Alstom led the signing of a $2.7 billion contract to design, implement and operate these two lines.

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Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi launched the New Administrative Capital in 2015 to house the country’s government ministries and as a central business district.

It will also house new residential areas to take the pressure off Cairo which has a population of 22 million people.

Egypt’s transport minister has made headlines in recent months following a series of train crashes in the country which critics put down to corruption and failure to update the dilapidated tracks and train carriages.

MPs among others have called on Wazir to stand down and be held accountable.