Egypt Links Red Sea to Mediterranean with $4.5 Bln High-speed Rail

Egypt signed a $4.45 billion deal for a high-speed electric railway to connect its coasts on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, which Siemens dubbed "Suez Canal on rails."

A cabinet statement said on Wednesday that the contract signed between the National Authority for Tunnels in Egypt and a consortium that includes Siemens Mobility, Orascom Construction and the Arab Contractors will cover the design, installation and maintenance of the railway over a period of 15 years.

The 660 km railway is expected to carry more than 30 million passengers annually as well as a freight line, which will run between the port of Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea and the ports of Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh, to link Europe and Asia.

Siemens CEO Roland Bosch told reporters via video conference that the railway would cut travel times by up to half, describing it as "the Suez Canal on rails."

The German giant said its stake in the contract is about $3 billion, and will be delivered by the end of 2023, with order completion by 2027.

On its part, Orascom said that the financial closing of its contract is expected in 2022.

Orascom said that it is finalizing another deal on two other high-speed rail lines, one running south from Cairo to Aswan, and the other linking the Nile city of Luxor with Hurghada on the Red Sea.

The network will eventually extend to 1,825 kilometres, according to the Cabinet.

In recent years, the government has accelerated an infrastructure drive that includes the rapid development of the road network, to end decades long of train accidents.