Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: A new transport system is expected to alleviate the traffic burden of Cairo. In May, the doors of monorail slid open to welcome passengers, marking the launch of Africa’s first driverless monorail network. Once completed, it could be the longest of its kind anywhere in the world.
Spanning 56.5 kilometers (35 miles) from Cairo International Stadium in the city’s Nasr City district to the ever-developing New Administrative Capital, the newly launched East Nile route is the first of two lines set to comprise the all-electric network.
A 43.8-km (27-mile) West Nile path connecting 6 October City, a satellite city in the greater Cairo region, to Giza is under construction. Fragmented road infrastructure and extensive traffic congestion put an enormous strain on Cairo’s three existing Metro lines to bear the load of around 500 million annual passengers, leading to a £2.3 billion (around $3 billion) contract in 2019 for French rail transport manufacturer Alstom to construct and operate a new monorail network.
Heading up a consortium involving Cairo-based Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors, Alstom manufactured 272 monorail cars at its factory in Derby, England. Financial backing was partly provided by the UK Export Finance.
The 68 trains, the last of which left the East Midlands for Egypt in January 2024, can shuttle up to 45,000 passengers per hour, per direction, at speeds of 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph).
