Egypt on has signed a contract worth $4.5 billion with a consortium led by Siemens for the construction of its first high-speed train line, connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
The Egypt state television reported the signing of a document providing for “the development, implementation, supply and maintenance for 15 years of the first line of the high-speed electric train network” between the cities of Marsa Matrouh (north) and Aïn Soukhna (east) over 410 miles (660 km).
The contract has been signed between Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) and a consortium including Siemens Mobility, Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors. The 660-km (410 miles) link will include a main line designed to carry more than 30 million passengers annually as well as a freight line.
Siemens CEO Roland Busch told journalists via video conference the rail link would cut journey times by as much as half, describing it as a “Suez Canal on rails”. The German engineering and technology group said its share of the contract was worth around $3 billion. Trains would be delivered by its Siemens Mobility unit by the end of 2023.
