Egypt tenders rail signalling package

10 October 2016

Three firms invited to bid for contract

Egypt National Railways (ENR) has invited companies to submit offers by mid-December for a contract to upgrade the signalling system at the Asyut-Sohag route of its mainline rail network.

The invitation to tender has been extended to Germany’s Siemens, France’s Alstom and Thales, according to a source familiar with the project.

The Asyut-Sohag route is about 120 kilometres long.

The US-based World Bank is financing the project, whose budget is estimated at $160m.

In April, Siemens won a contract to upgrade the signalling system on the 260-kilometre rail line running between Benha and Port Said on the northeast and between Zagazig and Abu Kebir in the north of Cairo.

In July 2014, Alstom was selected for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of the signalling and central traffic system for the Beni Suef-Asyut line while Thales won the $140m signalling and safety contract for the Cairo-Alexandria line in March 2013.

Upgrading the rail network’s signalling systems is an urgent priority for Egypt. A series of fatal accidents have occurred in recent years, largely due to signalling failures. In 2015, it is understood that 88 per cent of signals were still mechanical, making the rail highly susceptible to human error. The latest accident occurred on 14 September, where five people died and more than 30 were injured when three carriages of a train heading from Cairo to Aswan when from the track before flipping over.

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