The city of Alexandria in Egypt is set for an upgrade in transportation with the construction of a new regional metro system. This marks a significant milestone as the first modernization effort for the city’s transportation infrastructure.
The new project spans 21.7 kilometers and connects downtown Alexandria to the northeastern town of Abu Qir through 20 stations. According to the Minister of Transport, Kamel El-Wazir the metro system will move at a speed of 100km per hour instead of the current 25km per hour when it is completed.
It will power all train cars on the decades-old line with electricity and add more stations from Abu Qir in the east of the city to the central Misr Railway Station in downtown Alexandria. It will also convey 60,000 passengers per hour in both directions with trips from beginning to end taking 25 minutes instead of 50 minutes.
The traditional local tram system will be assisted by the safer and more ecologically friendly new line in reducing the recurring traffic jams that have slowed down transit for Alexandria’s five million and expanding population.
The stations at Mamoura in the east and Misr Railway Station in the middle will be transformed into crucial train transfer locations for moving between different parts of Alexandria.
The redesigned and extended line will also link Borg Al-Arab, which is located southwest of the city, and New Abu Qir City, which is located east of the city, to the new cross-country electric train corridor, which will link Alamein, which is located in the country’s northwest, to Sokna, which is located in the southeast on the Red Sea.
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), L’Agence française de développement (AFD), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are the funding sources for this project, which has a total contract value of about 1.3 billion euros.
The National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) has awarded Orascom Construction and French Colas Rail an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract to build the metro system. The project intends to provide an electric metro system in Alexandria, enabling effective, secure, and environmentally sustainable mass transit. Thales will provide crucial signaling, connectivity, and automatic fare collection packages as part of its contribution.