The World Bank on March 5 approved a US$440 million loan to support Egypt’s railway improvement project, which seeks to enhance rail safety and service quality.
The newly approved project, Railway Improvement and Safety for Egypt (RISE), seeks to modernize the signalling system on the Cairo – Giza – Beni Suef segment of the Egyptian National Railways (ENR) network and support the reforms needed to enhance ENR’s performance and competitiveness.
The RISE project costs a total of US$681.1 million, and the remaining $241.1 million will be contributed by ENR.
The RISE project is a continuation of the Egypt National Railways Modernization Project (ENRMP), which focused on signalling system upgrade and track renewal on the Alexandria – Cairo and Beni Suef – Nagh Hammadi segments. The ENRMP was also financed by the World Bank, between 2009 and 2020.
The RISE project will modernize the signalling system and renew the track along the Cairo – Beni Suef segment, and will continue ENRMP’s works along the Alexandria – Cairo and Beni Suef – Nagh Hammadi segments. The project will cover a total length of 763 km.
The RISE project will also introduce an upgraded Safety Management System to improve safety for ENR passengers and workers.
Service quality will also improve due to improved punctuality, with ENR estimating that 90% of trains will run on time, up from the current 75%.
Browse our Projects database to get detailed data exclusively on rail projects in Africa.