Railway Passenger Traffic Drops 62% Due to Corona Pandemic

The precautionary measures that were approved to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the recent period led to a noticeable decline in railway passenger traffic, which affected the volume of revenue also unevenly.

As government data indicated, the number of railway passengers reached about 8.9 million passengers last May, compared to 23.4 million passengers in the same month in 2019, a decline of about 14.5 million passengers or 62%, while the number of passengers last April recorded about 10.4 million passengers.

The data issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) indicates that the drop in the number of passengers resulted in a decrease in revenues to reach EGP 89.9 million last May, compared to EGP 190.2 million in in the same period last year, a drop of about EGP 100.3 million or 53%, while revenue registered EGP 92.4 million in April.

As for the amount of goods transported by railways, it reached 330.7 thousand tons last May, compared to 388 thousand tons in the same month in 2019, a decline of about 57.3 thousand tons or 15%, while the quantity last April recorded 455.6 thousand tons.

Railway reached unprecedented revenues ahead of COVID

However, rail revenue achieved a remarkable increase before the emergence of the deadly virus, as it reached EGP 216.7 million last December, compared to EGP 192.6 million during the same month last year, an increase of about 24.1 million pounds, which reflects the results of the work system being applied by the Railway Authority.

It is noteworthy that Egypt received this week the second batch of Transmash holding railcars.