Transport Minister Kamel El-Wazir inspected work on Sunday, August 30, 2026, along the first line of Egypt's high-speed electric rail network, which runs from Ain Sokhna to Alamein and Matrouh, as preparations continue for trial operations on part of the line.
The first line stretches 660 km from Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea to Matrouh on the Mediterranean. El-Wazir inspected the section between Ain Sokhna station and the Central Capital station as part of efforts to meet President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's directives to complete mass-transit projects within their scheduled timelines, the transport ministry said.
El-Wazir was accompanied by the head of the National Authority for Tunnels, Tarek Gewily, and project consultants. The minister first inspected a roughly 6-km rail connection between Ain Sokhna station and Ain Sokhna Port, designed to link the port to the high-speed rail line and facilitate freight transport to and from the port.
He then inspected Ain Sokhna and Central Capital stations, reviewing final finishing work, passenger flows from entrances to ticket halls and platforms, and plans to make the best administrative and commercial use of station space. El-Wazir also reviewed work on service roads running alongside the track, ahead of the installation of ballast, sleepers and rails, as well as plans to use external roads to serve nearby residential areas, and he ordered work to be completed on access roads serving the stations from all traffic directions to facilitate passengers' arrival.
El-Wazir also inspected a maintenance facility covering about 259,000 square meters near the Central Capital station and the main workshop for the first line, which covers 578 feddans (about 243 hectares) and will serve all three lines by operating the trains, carrying out major and minor overhauls, and storing up to 50 trains and locomotives.
He reviewed sections of the track handed over to the Siemens-Orascom Construction-Arab Contractors consortium for the installation of ballast and rails and overhead catenary poles, as well as electromechanical works and other systems. Trial operations without passengers are expected to begin on one section of the first line in the coming months, with further non-passenger trials to follow according to the project's timetable, the ministry said.
The minister also inspected completed bridges and other structures, including Wadi Hagoul Bridge, the June 30 Bridge, the new Quarries Bridge, Al-Khor Bridge, and Autostrade Bridge. He reviewed construction of bridges east of the Nile, the Nile bridge, and bridges west of the river, and called for the completion of rail and road bridges and flood culverts east of the Nile.
El-Wazir praised the work carried out by Egyptian workers and engineers, highlighting Al-Khor Bridge over Wadi Degla — 600 meters long, 90 meters high and 14 meters wide — as well as bridges south of Helwan and east of the Nile. The high-speed rail network will connect different parts of Egypt, and the first line will provide a land link between the Red Sea and Mediterranean, which El-Wazir described as a "new Suez Canal on rails."