Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Transport and Industry Kamel el Wazir on Saturday 12/10/2024 said that the Transport Ministry has a comprehensive plan to develop the transport system, topped by the railways, in order to keep pace with contemporary developments and deliver excellent services to people.
Wazir made the remarks while delivering a speech before President Abdel Fattah El Sisi during the inauguration of Upper Egypt Railway Station in Bashtil, Giza governorate.
The minister said that throughout 160 years, the railway system has never witnessed similar modernization that abides by safety standards and caters for the population growth.
Since 2014, the Ministry of Transport has been keen on implementing an all-out development plan for all state’s railway lines that are estimated at 10,000 kilometers, Wazir said.
The transport minister said that the state’s railways in 2014 used to serve up to 700,000 commuters daily, yet, after the development the daily number of pas
sengers has increased to one million.
Under the 2030 development plan, the number of commuters served by the railways will increase to two million, the minister said.
He added that in 2014, the freight trains used to carry four million tons of consignment, but after the development that daily amount of goods transported through the railways have been upped to eight million tons on annual basis.
The amount of cargo transported by the railways is expected to raise to 13 million tons annually, by the year 2030, Wazir said.
The Ministry’s plans toward decarbonization has contributed to reducing emissions by 20 percent, the minister said.
He added that 210 new locomotives have entered service, in line with contracts signed in 2021 at a total of 2.7 million dollars.
As many as 310 stations out of 708 stations were renovated topped by Misr Station in Cairo and Misr Station in Alexandria, Wazir said.
In light of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to put solutions to the problem of overcrowding in
Ramsis Square and Misr Station, it was planned to establish the Upper Egypt Railway Station in Bashtil on an area four times more than the current area of Ramsis Station. The new station aims at reducing the pressure on Ramsis Station via making Bashtil a final station for Upper Egypt trains, Wazir said.
Among the aims of the new station also is improving the level of services presented in the train stations to the global level and establishing a workshop for maintaining locomotives to improve the level of maintenance and expansion in establishing exchange stations between the different means of public transportation and achieving sustainable development for the community via providing smart transportation stations, he said.
Source: State Information Service Egypt